


Curl of Ash

by DarknessAroundUs



Series: Supernatural AU [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, BAMF Betty Cooper, F/M, Graduate School, Magicians, Murder Mystery, Serial Killers, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-08-03 03:32:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: “What the fuck is a Hedge Witch?” Jughead asks.Betty looks surprised. “I thought you were a Hedge Witch.”“I am not a witch.” Jughead scoffs.“It was not a gendered statement. It’s a question of training. Are you self-taught?”“Of course I am! Who the hell isn’t?” Jughead exclaims.“I’m not. I go to Longclaw University.”





	1. Hedge Witches

You know what it feels like to hold  
a burning piece of paper, maybe even  
trying to read it as the flames get close  
to your fingers until all you’re holding  
is a curl of ash by its white ear tip  
yet the words still hover in the air?

\- Dean Young, Belief in Magic

Jughead is at the Forest Hills-71st Avenue station waiting for the R to take him to Union Square. He has work tonight. It’s midnight on a Wednesday and the station is almost empty. It’s only September, but the weather has already turned. The other person waiting with him is a brunette in a pea coat and a cable knit green scarf, standing and reading a book. He was shivering in his Sherpa jacket above ground, but in the station away from the wind, he feels fine.

It’s a good thing his work will take him inside today. The guy he’s been working for is throwing a party, and he’s in charge of the lighting. The venue is the cavernous basement of one of the older buildings in Union Square. It will take a lot of work on his part to make it seem special for a few hours.

A tall man with blond hair joins them on the platform. He’s wearing one of those puffy shiny black coats that Jughead can’t stand. The man scans the platform. He doesn’t seem to notice Jughead at all. Instead he heads straight for the brunette. She looks up from her book and starts walking away from the man, towards Jughead. She mouths the word go to Jughead.

Normally Jughead wouldn’t listen to a stranger, he’s tough, he can take most people, but when he glances at the man with blond hair again there seems something off about him, although Jughead struggles to describe what exactly that is. His eyes seem a little glazed, his skin a little pale.

There isn’t very far to go, the other end of the platform is a dead end. The train could arrive at any moment and at the very least surprise the man, but it also could not. Jughead keeps walking, his pace is steady, he keeps glancing back at the brunette.

She’s pretty in a subdued way. Her hair is in a bun and her make-up is barely noticeable. The thing that stands out about her most are her eyes. They are green and lively. She doesn’t seem scared. Her breathing isn’t heavy. She isn’t running.

The man is following both of them now, very clearly. Jughead takes a deep breath. He’s about to run out of platform. He knows that he could easily subdue their pursuer with magic, but he has no clue how to do it discreetly. There are no cameras at this end of the station, but he doesn’t want to shock the brunette too badly.

He doesn’t really have another option. Jughead pushes the knuckles of both hands together in preparation to cast the spell, but he’s too late. It turns out the man is a magician too, and he’s already sent a swarm of small arrows at the brunette, Jughead slams his knuckles together harder and murmurs the two Latin words that have protected him all his life, the same ones that are tattooed around his wrist.

A fireball flies across the platform towards the man. At the same time the arrows pause in mid air as if they have hit an invisible wall, and they fall to the ground. Jughead didn’t do that, and he knows the man wouldn’t have undermined his own spell in that way so Jughead turns his head to look at the brunette.

She is a magician too. What are the fucking odds, he thinks, feeling a little shocked for the first time in a while. In that moment, while he is focused on the brunette, his fireball hits the chest of the man.

The man hits the platform hard, and the brunette is by his side in seconds. “Shit.”

“It shouldn’t do any permanent damage.” Jughead protests, kneeling beside her, and what he now realizes is a dead body. He’s confused. The fireball just looks like a fireball, in reality it’s a simple stunning spell, but this man isn’t alive.

“It didn’t. This man has been dead for a while.” the brunette says.

“The hell he has, I just saw him walking. He just cast a fucking spell.” In the silence that follows Jugheads statement they both hear the distinct sound of a train approaching the station. The brunette balls her left hand into a fist and taps it three times on the flattened palm of her right hand. The body besides her disappears.

Jughead doesn’t know that trick. He doesn’t know anything like that. He meets this strange girls gaze and she smiles at him as the train doors open. “Just get on the train. I’ll explain.”

The car they enter is empty. He sits down on the far side of the train and she sits across from him. For a minute they sit there in silence as the doors close and the train starts up. Jughead realizes he’s breathing hard and he takes a moment to calm his breath.

The brunette taps the top of her bun and mutters something under her breath and the hair turns blond. Jughead can tell right away that this is her natural hair color.

“I’m Betty Cooper.” She says, breaking their silence.

“I’m Jughead Jones.”

“Nice to meet you.” She says this as if they just met under normal circumstances, and not like he just watched her disappear a dead body.

“Who are you?”

“A magician.”

No, shit, Jughead had already figured that one out. It’s not like Jughead didn’t know there were other magicians out there, he did. He lived with three other magicians after all. But there weren’t that many magicians, even in a city as big as New York. He knew most of them, he thought. They ran in the same circles, took the same sort of jobs together, drank at the same moldy pub.

The odds that all three people on a subway platform in Queens would be magicians and all three would be apparent strangers to each other was highly unlikely.

“What happened back there?” Jughead asks.

Betty sighs. “It’s complicated to explain. I mean I’ve been expecting to be attacked all week, but not like this.”

“Why were you expecting to be attacked?” Jughead asks. The longer she talks the more confused he gets.

“I was undercover, pretending to be a Hedge Witch, baiting the Purists and hoping to draw them out.”

“What the fuck is a Hedge Witch?” Jughead asks. He also has no clue what a Purist is either. But he figures they have a long subway ride together, he has time to ask questions.

Betty looks surprised. “I thought you were a Hedge Witch?”

“I am not a witch.” Jughead scoffs.

“It was not a gendered statement. It’s a question of training. Are you self-taught?”

“Of course I am! Who the hell isn’t?” Jughead exclaims.

“I’m not. I go to Longclaw University.” Jughead has heard of Longclaw, all of his friends have too, they just assumed it was a myth. They brought it up only as a joke. If one of them was acting too uppity the other would accuse them of secretly attending Longclaw.

“Before that did you go to Hogwarts?” Jughead spits out, sarcastically.

“Of course not. That’s fiction.”

“What’s a Purist?” Jughead asks, circling back around to her original statement.

“A Purist is an individual who believes that magic rightfully belongs only to trained magicians. Most of them are just vocally rude, but someone has been going around killing Hedges for the last few months. Now there are over half a dozen dead because of someone’s prejudices.”

“Shit. That’s awful.”

“So you hadn’t heard about it?” Betty asks. Jughead is about to shake his head, but then he remembers that Sweetpea’s ex Ethel, also a Hedge had died recently under mysterious circumstances. Sweetpea had claimed it was part of a larger war against magicians, but Sweetpea was prone to exaggeration and Jughead hadn’t taken it seriously at the time.

“Maybe a little. So what were you doing here - baiting the Purist?”

“Yes. Most of the dead Hedges were living in Queens, so I found an apartment, changed my hair color, and started to drop discreet clues. I’ve been hoping all week for a confrontation. But I’m pretty sure that the Purist figured it out, that’s why he didn’t come and just sent a dead body instead.”

“About that – is that a common ability among magicians? To be able to reanimate corpses and instill them with magic.”

“It’s illegal and uncommon, I’d only read about it before, I’ve never seen one.”

Jughead’s never even read a book of magic. He’s heard whispers of them, but they are far too rare and too expensive for the likes of him. Everything he knows he either learned by accident as a teenager (the first fireball he ever threw was a mistake), or from fellow magicians, or apparently Hedge Witches, which is what Betty seemed to insist on calling him. No one he associates with is formally educated.

Jughead gets that the term Hedge Witch is kind of a slight, but he also gets the impression that Betty doesn’t mean it badly. She’s been nothing but honest with him, she’s talking to him like an equal, albeit one with a limited vocabulary.

It’s strange, he’s lived in his version of the magical world for so long he’s assumed it is the only one there is, though clearly there is a much larger one outside of it.

He remembers the pity he used to feel for his mother, who never knew about magic, who lived and died entirely in the real world. He wonders if Betty is feeling that for him right now? When he looks at her he doesn’t see a hint of that, just kindness and curiosity.

“So I was hoping to at least identify the Purist last night, but no such luck. I wasted a whole week on nothing.” Betty says with a sigh.

“Sorry.” Jughead said. “Maybe I can help. I am a Hedge apparently, maybe it would be easier for me to find out more, if not about the perpetrator, than at least about the victims.”

“That would be great.” Betty says with a smile and they exchange contact information.

“I am getting rather desperate. If I don’t find out anything by Christmas I’m going to track down a dragon and force it to tell me the names of all the registered purists.” Betty offers, leaning back in her seat.

“Wait, dragons are real?” Jughead is shocked by this. He’s certainly never seen one.

“Yes. You know about other creatures, right?”

“Of course, vampires, werewolves, lampreys, etc…”

“What about the gods?”

Jughead laughs “I work for one actually.”

“Oh?” Betty says raising an eyebrow, a smile on her lips.

“Bacchus. I’m heading to a job right now. I manipulate the lighting at all of his bigger parties.”

Betty smiles. “You don’t strike me as much of a partier.” Jughead is a little surprised by this statement. Most of the hedges he knows, are. He’s one of the few exceptions. There is nothing about him that screams straight laced. Even as bundled as he is, he has tattoos peaking out.

Still Betty isn’t wrong. He doesn’t remember very much about his dad at all, but he remembers what his mom told him about FP, about how alcohol destroyed him and forced them to leave. Mood altering substances of any kind are something he stays clear of.

“I’m not. Actually, that is why Bacchus hires me. I’m reliable. Besides getting a minor contact buzz, I stay sober in the shadows and insure a good time is had by all. Do you want to come?” He asks, even though Betty seems like even less of a partier than himself. But he likes the idea of getting to spend more time with her.

Betty shakes her head. “I should be getting back. My roommate Archie is probably worried sick about me. But you must be pretty good at what you do if a god employees you.”

Jughead shrugs. He is good, he knows that. Out of all the hedges he lives with he’s the most powerful by far. “You know just because I’m self-taught doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.”

“I am sorry! I would never imply that! I am sure there are Hedges that are as powerful if not more – than Magicians.”

Jughead shrugs. He’s not actually in a position to say, given that he just discovered he was a Hedge and not a Magician like he’d always assumed.

“I’m just curious, why didn’t you go to Longclaw?” Betty asks. He can tell she’s nervous about asking the question, because of how she doesn’t meet his eyes when she asks it.

“I thought that would be obvious. I didn’t know about it. It’s not like I could apply for a secret university.”

“That’s not how it works exactly. Usually someone from Longclaw contacts you. They claim to be an employment expert or a post grad guidance counselor or something like that and they offer up an interview. If you pass the test they give you, you remember everything, if you fail they erase your memory. But you still remember the part about meeting with the post grad councilor or employment expert.”

“I’ve never had a meeting like that. But I just moved here six months ago, and I never did any sort of educational program post high school.”

“That could be part of it.” Betty says. “They are generally searching for applicants with undergraduate degrees. Do you want me to get you an interview?”

“Sure.” Jughead replies. He’s curious about all this. Leery, but curious. He trusts Betty for sure, but he doesn’t like the idea of attending school with Purists. There is no denying his Hedge Witch roots, he’s spent over half his life nurturing them. “As long as you promise not to go meet that dragon without me.”

“It’s a deal.” Betty says, with a bright smile.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m super nervous/excited about this story. I’m very grateful for any feedback! I really wanted to explore the magical elements of this new world, and the culture those elements bring (good and bad).
> 
> This story was very much influenced by The Magicians (the books and the TV show) in terms of the school itself, the way gods/creatures work, and some of the attitude. It is a whole lot less depression and quest orientated though. The central focus of the plot is romance and mystery in the context of magic. The plot is entirely different from The Magicians.
> 
> I post updates every week, usually on Mondays.
> 
> I am on [tumbler](https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/)


	2. The Interview

Betty is waiting for Jughead in the corner of a dimly lit coffee shop just off Washington Square. He spots her reading in the corner. She doesn’t look up from her book. Her hair is in a ponytail this time and she’s wearing a soft blue sweater and leggings. She’s beautiful but he can’t let that distract him. She is his only link to the world of formal magic, one he didn’t even realize existed till last week. 

Jughead orders a coffee and then goes to sit down at Betty’s table. She only looks up when he starts to move the chair he’s planning to sit in. She gives him a big smile. “Hi.” she says softly.

He nods. “Don’t worry. I didn’t tell anyone.” Right after Jughead had left her last time he had received a text from Betty that told him to keep his lips sealed, to not tell anyone about Longclaw. That is the only way his own formal training could possibly take place. 

“Thanks. I’m not sure how I feel about the strong tradition of keeping magicians separate from Hedge Witches. I mean obviously I told you about Longclaw right away. But officially the school has a two-hundred-year-old policy of non-disclosure.”

“Is that how it works in other countries too?” Jughead asks, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“Yes. Although the lines are apparently very blurry in Eastern Europe. I’ve never been myself though, only heard about it.”

“How did you find out about Longclaw? Were you recruited by a phony employment agency?

Betty blushes a deep red. “No. I’m a legacy.”

“Oh.”

“My mom and dad met at Longclaw. That doesn’t mean admittance was guaranteed, but it does mean I’ve always known about Magicians.”

“OK.” He knows now that Betty’s lived an entirely different life than him. One where stability does not seem to be a foreign concept. Her parents are still together, that alone seems shocking. 

The first time Jughead did magic, he threw a fireball by accident while bored. He had just turned thirteen and he assumed he was going fucking insane. It took three weeks and hundreds of fireballs to convince himself otherwise. 

After that Jughead was alone for years. He assumed that some other people could do magic, he just had no clue how to find them. He had tried the internet, but that had just resulted in trolls (not the enchanted kind either). 

Jughead made his first contact with another magician in his last year of school. He caught his English teacher, Mr. Thomas doing a spell during class to shut up one of the jocks. After class Jughead called Mr. Thomas on it. 

They met after school once a week after that and worked on Jughead’s magic. Mr. Thomas introduced Jughead to other magicians and steered him towards the right internet forums. He was Jughead’s proper introduction to the world of magic as a culture. 

Betty grew up knowing her magic was real, knowing she wasn’t crazy. Even if she couldn’t talk to friends about it, she could talk to her family about it. 

Just thinking about this made Jughead resent her a little. Betty didn’t seem to notice though, she just took another sip of her coffee and said. “Your interview is going to start in about five minutes. Dean Weatherbee will come here and take you for a walk. Then he will bring you back here. I will stay here and wait. ”

“And he will have wiped my memory if I fail?”

“You won’t fail. But no matter what he can’t really wipe it, because of our conversation last week. He knows about that. It’s part of the reason he’s agreed to consider you as a student. It took a lot of convincing for him to consider such a thing this late in the semester with no undergraduate degree.”

“Are your parents on the board? Is that why he made an exception?” Jughead snarls the words at Betty a little, and her reaction makes him regret it. She looks down at the table, both hands clenched into fists. 

“My parents are not on the board, and if they were it would not bode well for you. They’re Purists.”

Oh. Jughead doesn’t know how to respond to that. But Betty doesn’t make him. Instead she changes the subject. “Weatherbee’s entering the coffee shop now. He’s nice. Treat him with deference and everything should be fine.”

“Ok.” He wishes he had some idea about what he was getting into with this test, but it was too late to worry now. He turned around and stands up to greet Weatherbee. The Dean doesn’t respond to his hello and instead leads Jughead silently back through the doors of the coffee shop. 

Jughead is shocked to find that they are no longer on the streets of Manhattan. They are on a large sprawling lawn in front of a building that looks like it would be on the front page of a college brochure, all ivy and brick and windows. 

“What is your name?” Weatherbee asks.

“Jughead Jones.” 

“What is your real name?”

“Forsythe Pendleton Jones III” Jughead meets Weatherbees eyes when he says it. 

Jughead loathes that name. Usually people’s response to that name is to roll their eyes, or to laugh, Weatherbee does neither. Instead he looks surprised and then he smiles, his eyes bright. “Interesting. I wasn’t expecting that. I’m surprised we haven’t interviewed you already.”

Jughead is struck by the response, and wants to know more, but before he can ask anything Weatherbee is talking again “It is very unusual for us to admit someone who has no undergraduate education, magical or traditional. You should know I am expecting even more from you than I normally ask from students.”

Jughead nods. “So there are undergraduate institutes for magic?”

“Yes, our main feeder school is St George’s. If you don’t get in here, I will forward your information to their Dean and you can audition for them. But Betty insisted that I test you first. She was rather adamant.”

Jughead is grateful for that. He was unaccustomed to having an advocate. “And you take Betty seriously?”

“Betty is our top student. Not that she would boast about it or anything, but she’s only in her first year with us and we’ve already offered her a position post-graduation.”

“Oh.” The little magic he’d seen Betty do was impressive, but he’d just assumed all formally train magicians had that sort of capacity. It seems now like that is not the case. 

The Dean leads Jughead away from the formal looking academic building and towards a large newer building, that Jughead realizes quickly is comprised of practice rooms.

The Dean opens the door to one of the larger one and gestures for Jughead to go through. The room is empty. The walls are padded with some material that Jughead is unfamiliar with. Weatherbee answers Jughead’s unspoken question “It’s dragon skin, it absorbs all magic.”

Already this place is exceeding Jughead’s expectations.

“Can you make something out of nothing?” Weatherbee asks.

Jughead nods. He taps his palms together three times, exhales, murmurs “primum mobile*” and a cockroach appears on the palm of his hand. 

Weatherbee laughs. “Get rid of it.”

This was actually trickier for Jughead. He really wanted to learn the spell Betty had done on the platform. But he did know how to undo the spell, it was just far trickier than casting it. Still he walked his hands through the moves and uttered the Latin phrase in reverse, then inhaled three times quickly, his eyes closed. He could feel the energy this kind of magic required rush out of his body. The cockroach was gone when he opened his eyes. 

“Very good.”

Jughead was getting nervous now. Neither of these spells were easy. They had drained his magic reserves a bit more than he expected.

“One last test. Cast the first spell you ever cast.”

Jughead exhaled, so much for a tough test. He easily, almost lazily casts the fireball. Weatherbee quirks an eyebrow “When did you first cast it?”

“Thirteen.”

“That’s impressive. Betty was right about you.” A shiny folder with the name Lonclaw and a crest printed in blue on it, appears in the dean’s hands. He hands it to Jughead “Here is your formal acceptance package. You have to move in tonight, tomorrow at the latest. First class will be on Monday. You cannot miss any classes this semester because you are joining so late.”

“Ok.” Jughead looks at the folder in his hand, feels the heft of it. “How much is this all going to cost?” Bacchus doesn’t pay well, but there are always other gods he could work for in a pinch, but they are all tied to his hedge witch existence, one that Betty has made clear he will have to leave behind.

“Tuition is free. Longclaw has generous donors, all past graduates, that fund the education of current students.”

“Oh.”

“You will be expected to live on campus. Dilton Doiley will be your roommate.” The dean was already leading Jughead out of the room. “You should know that as much as possible you should not talk about your Hedge Witch past here. Some Magicians are very biased against Hedges. Betty I am sure already warned you that you cannot tell your Hedge Friends what you are doing now. But for the sake of Betty’s project, you should probably keep contact with them. You should probably create a cover story of some kind.” 

Jughead felt shocked, so the dean knew what Betty was up to, and he seemed to be supporting it. They were back on the lawn now and the Dean looked at Jughead and then said “I almost forgot, I have to give you your ID. Where do you want it?”

“My ID? What do you mean where do you want it?” Jughead was used to ID being a card that he kept in his wallet.

“It’s a pass that can get you on and off campus using any number of doors in New York City. The coffee shop door is one of the enchanted ones, but there are many others. The pass appears like a tattoo essentially. You can put it anywhere, although we encourage the wrist as it is as easy way for long claw students past and present to identify each other as such.”

Jughead already had a lot of tattoos, hedges relied on them for protection. He had already noticed a distinct absence of tattoos on both Betty and Weatherbee, so formal magicians seemed to rely on them less. 

“My wrists are already covered, as are my arms.” Jughead said with a shrug.

“Chest?” Weatherbee asked.

Jughead unbuttoned his coat, and then tugged at the neck of the shirt to reveal some skin there. “Does that work?” The Dean nodded and pressed his palm against Jughead’s chest. Pain blooms there, like a bruise working deeper and deeper into Jughead’s flesh. The Dean removes his hand and the pain goes away. 

Jughead looks down, and can see it, although the angle is awkward. It is the school crest. A small version of it, not much bigger than a pocket watch. 

“You can only see it if you have one.” Weatherbee says, and now Jughead finds he can see Weatherbees, glowing slightly on his inner wrist. “Betty will be waiting for you.” Weatherbee says pushing his palm into the air and opening a door that has appeared gleaming and oak in the middle of the lawn.

When Jughead steps back into the coffee shop it is even more crowded than it was before. The noise feels overwhelming.

“Your in!” Betty says, with a smile.

“How did you know?”

“Your expression, also your new tattoo is a little visible.”

“I’m in. I start Monday.”

“Great!” Betty says “Will you still help me with my investigation?”

“Yes. Now I owe you, so I have too.” Jughead says with a wink, and he cuts off Betty’s protest with a question. “Weatherbee said something weird and I’m not sure what he meant by it.”

“Oh?” Betty says, clearly curious.

“He responded oddly to my name.”

“It is not the most common name. I’m pretty sure most people respond oddly to it.”

“No, not that name, my legal name.” Betty’s gaze meets Jugheads and she nods, encouraging him to continue. He hates saying his name though, but he’s doesn’t know any way around it, so he forces it out “Forsythe Pendleton Jones III. After I told Weatherbee it, he said he was surprised he hadn’t interviewed me already.”

“Any relation to Forsythe Pendleton Jones II?” Betty asked, her eyes a little wide. 

“Yes. I mean sort of. He’s my dad, but outside of the name he’s left me more or less alone. The last time I saw him, I was three, and all I can remember is that he shouted a lot.” 

“That doesn’t sound great.” Betty said, “but in the magic world he’s kind of a big deal.”

“Really?” Jughead knew there was a chance he had inherited magic from his dad, he certainly hadn’t from his mom, but he tried not to think about his father much. It wasn’t like his father had ever tried to get in touch. It’s not like Jughead has any way to contact him. 

It pissed Jughead off that his father had inflicted magic on him and hadn’t given Jughead anyway to cope with it. 

“He’s kind of infamous for bending but not breaking the rules of magic. He’s done things that no one else has done. For example, a few years back he proved that fairies existed.”

“Shit. I did not know that.” 

“He is a controversial figure.” Betty says with a shrug. Betty reaches inside her backpack and pulls out a flyer. “He’s also coming to campus in three weeks.”

 

* primum mobile – first moving thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully all of the information is manageable! I’ve tried to avoid info dumping as much as possible. I’m having so much fun writing this and I am so grateful for the feedback I’ve received. 
> 
> I’m not sure how long this will be but probably on the longer end of things for me. I think it will be around 12 chapters. But I’m really not sure. The first two chapters are on the shorter side of things. The following ones should be longer. 
> 
> I am so grateful for all the comments so far.


	3. A New World

Jughead pauses in front of the door of the loft he has lived in for the last six months. He can hear noise inside. Someone is watching TV so at least one of his roommates is home. He had been hoping he could get in and out without bothering anyone. That clearly won’t happen now.

He and Betty had grabbed pizza at a dive near NYU and talked over his options. She had stressed the importance of him not burning his ties to the Hedge community. They could serve as key sources in their ongoing investigation. 

But Jughead isn’t in the best place right now, emotionally speaking. If he hadn’t discovered his father’s secret celebrity status, perhaps he would be just excited to start his new life, but instead it felt a bit like stepping into a shit storm. 

His goal tonight, he decides, is to get in and out as quickly as possible. There is be no way to ignore his roommates completely. But he can talk to them while packing. 

Jughead unlocks the door and enters. Toni is sitting on the counter eating noodles and Sweetpea is watching football in front of the television. 

The loft is big and poorly maintained. It has cement floors and brick walls and the rooms were loosely divided by thin gray curtains. Whenever his roommates brought a date home there was a certain degree of awkwardness the next morning. He wouldn’t miss that. He wouldn’t miss much about living here actually, even though he liked all three of his roommates. It has felt like a temporary situation since day one. 

Jughead waves at Toni and Sweetpea and heads straight to his curtained off portion of the loft. He grabs his duffel bag, opens a drawer and starts throwing clothes into the duffel. Toni wanders over to watch him. 

“What’s going on?”

“I’m moving out. Don’t worry, I paid through the end of next month.”

“What?” Toni exclaims. 

“Why?” Fangs asks, leaving the sofa and joining Toni. 

“Bacchus is on the move, he wants me to keep working for him, so I’m off to Italy for a little bit. Who knows where after that.” It’s not exactly an air tight lie, but Bacchus is off to Italy so there is some truth to it.

“Shit. That’s kind of big time.”

“I wish he had given me more warning, but…” Instead of finishing the sentence, Jughead adds a shrug.

“So your moving on without us.” Sweetpea turns back towards the sofa and the TV. “Have fun!”

“Look us up when you're back in town.” Toni says. There is an expression on her face Jughead can’t read, but he thinks has something to do with jealousy. 

“Will do.” He replies, zipping up the duffel. He didn’t have much in terms of possessions, so moving was never a big deal. Everything he owns he can carry.

Jughead throws the keys on to the counter, “Say bye to Fangs for me.” 

“Sure.” Toni offers. 

 

 

Jughead wakes up to loud muttering and the sound of feet pacing back and forth, back and forth. He can’t make out the exact details of the words that were being said, but he can tell that the tone was angry. 

He is disoriented. It takes him a second to realize that he is in a dorm room at Longclaw. His room had actual wood paneled walls and a Persian carpet on the floor. Yesterday when he told Betty who his roommate was, she had grimaced. Now he is finding out why. 

Jughead glances at his phone. It is 7 AM on a Sunday and he’d much prefer to be sleeping but he is up now. He might as well head out. 

Jughead shoves on his clothes, and nods to Dilton who doesn’t even appear to notice him. Jughead makes his way to the dining hall. He’s surprised to see Betty at a table already, sitting with a tall Redheaded man. 

He grabs a large cup of coffee and a plate full of pancakes before sitting down across from Betty. 

“How was your first night?” She asks with a smile. She’s wearing running clothes and she looks fully awake. Jughead feels like his brain is still partially asleep. 

“Could have been better. Dilton woke me up with all of his muttering. He is one weird early bird.”

The redhead laughs. “So we’ve heard. He’s had a hard time keeping a roommate for a reason.”

Jughead looks at the redhead with surprise, but the man doesn’t volunteer his name. “This is Archie, my roommate.” Betty offers.

Archie looks like he also just came back from a run. Jughead looks at Betty questioningly. Betty hadn’t mentioned a boyfriend last night, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have one.

“And by roommate she really means just that. We’ve lived together since undergrad. It’s just easier that way. We have similar schedules, we’re best friend, plus we get to really piss off her parents. It’s an all-around win.” Archie says. 

“Noted.” He can’t imagine being in a position where pissing off parents is a win, but this is a different world. “Any chance I can switch roommates?”

“Next year? You moved into the only empty room on campus.” Betty says.

“Great.”

“But I do know a spell that can keep your room a quiet zone, so he can’t wake you up that way again.” 

Jughead looks up from his pancakes, feeling a little more hopeful. “Really?”

“Yes. It works great. It’s the only reason Archie and I are still roommates.” Betty says, arching an eyebrow. “He has a tendency to get loud and so I automatically set it every night before bed.”

“Thanks for throwing me under a bus Betty.” Archie says nudging her with an elbow. 

“It’s a small school. Jughead was going to find out about that part of your reputation, sooner or later. It’s not a secret. I’m the only female student on campus you haven’t slept with.”

Jughead had taken a particularly large sip of coffee and it took a great deal of effort to swallow it instead of spitting up. 

“For the record, Betty’s never given me a reason to set up the same spell she sets up every night and that’s her reputation.” Archie says with a grin. 

“That is not exactly true, Arch. Trev used to stay over all the time, you are just a very heavy sleeper.”

“Trev?” Jughead asked. He was feeling very out of the loop. 

“Trev Brown, Betty’s ex-boyfriend, currently a werewolf. And that was like three years ago Betty, it hardly counts.”

“Wait, you dated a werewolf?” The only werewolf’s Jughead had known were emotionally unstable. It was hard to maintain a conversation with one, never mind a relationship.

“I dated a magician. He got bitten a little after our first anniversary, and that was that.”

“Shit.” Betty just shrugs in response. 

“Anything else I should know about either of your reputations?” Jughead asked. 

“Archie is a jock, but a nice guy. Boring almost.” Betty volunteers. 

“Betty is the top student.” 

“Weatherbee already told me that one.”

“Also she’s a little mystery obsessed.”

“I knew that too.” Jughead said a little smugly. 

“Her mother is the most terrifying person I’ve ever met.” Betty shoots Archie a glare and he shrugs and says “What? It’s true.”

Maybe the pissing Betty’s parents off line makes more sense in the light of this. Jughead finishes his last pancake and considers getting more.

Betty glances at her phone. “Shit, I have to go. See you guys later.” and with that she was gone. Jughead feels a little awkward sitting there with someone he just met, but Archie makes no attempt to leave, instead he starts talking.

“Betty told me you were a Hedge. Your secret is safe with me.” 

“Ok.” Jughead feels fine with that. Archie seems nice enough and Betty clearly trusts him. What surprises him is that Betty apparently hasn’t told Archie who Jughead’s dad is. He is grateful for that. 

“You’re helping her on the case, right?”

“That is the plan.” 

Archie nods “Good. The last time she got like this, she ended up putting two Magicians away for life but she nearly got herself killed in the process. I like the idea of her having backup.” 

Jughead thinks that’s one of the most frustrating statement he’s heard lately, and way too sparse on details, before he can press for more, Archie asks if Jughead wants to play video games with him. It’s been a while since Jughead has done anything that normal, so he says yes. 

 

 

Betty gets the text before breakfast. The number is anonymous and all the text says is **The Met – 10:00 AM, Temple. I know who is killing the hedges. Come Alone.**

She considers ignoring it, then she thinks about telling either Jughead or Archie, but at some point near the end of breakfast, she decides that she has to follow through. She will be kicking herself for a long time if she doesn’t. Besides the meeting isn’t in a parking lot, or a subway tunnel, it is in a very public, brightly lit space.

Because the location of the meeting is a place Betty treasures she suspects that the person that she’s meeting there knows her, at least a little. Although who it is, she has no idea

Betty quickly excuses herself, has a shower and then heads to the MET. Betty is always grateful for the ID pass. Many of the doors open from campus onto the upper east side, one is just a few blocks from the museum. The day is chilly and she has bundled as best she can but still the wind keeps making her shiver. 

She shows her membership card and slips through the tourists that gape at the start of the Egyptian wing. She knows where she is going, she has been there hundreds of times before.

She passes mummies and sculptures and in minutes she finds herself in front of the Temple of Dendur. The fact that it once was in sand halfway across the world and is now here, in a room overlooking central park is inspiring. The room is empty. The museum just opened and no one else has made it this far in yet. 

Betty wonders where the strange contact will meet her. She’s standing in front of the reflecting pool when her question is answered.

Jason Blossom is standing next to her. “I knew you would come.” 

She feels a shiver travel up her spine. She’s known Jason all her life. He was Chic’s best friend and Polly’s ex-boyfriend. 

If the rumors are true, he’s the most powerful hedge in NYC. The thing is he didn’t start out that way. Growing up he couldn’t even cast a fireball. Jason had either done the right drugs to make this happen, or seduced the right gods. Either way the implications of how he got his power scare Betty. 

“I didn’t know it would be you.” Betty said. She and Jason had never been close. She knew him in the context of her siblings. She didn’t know if that was enough reason to trust him. Jason has every reason to hate her too. She is the reason his parents will spend the rest of their lives in jail. Although he'd never had a great relationship with Penelope and Clifford, so perhaps that wasn't a problem for him. 

“I know that you’ve been looking into the murders. I’ve been doing my best to protect my own, but I’ve been stretched thin. I want you to keep looking.”

“I will.” Betty says. She knows he didn’t call her here just to tell her this.

“I have a lead for you. A Hedge Witch named Tara was killed last night and the police found this at the scene.” Jason hands Betty a notebook. Betty flips through it. It’s empty.

“I haven’t been able to make the ink visible, but I can tell something is there. Tara’s boyfriend insists the notebook isn’t hers. She was killed in her apartment. Nothing else was added or removed.”

Betty can’t believe it, this is a lead, a real lead, and she now has it in her possession.

“I’ve also heard that your parents know something about what is going on.” Betty swallows hard. She wishes she was more surprised by this statement.

“Who told you?” 

“I can’t divulge my sources. But I will come to you again if I have anything concrete.” At least that’s something. Betty nods. 

The room around them has started to fill up with strangers with cameras. Neither of them can afford to be photographed together, last time Betty checked Jason was still on the High Council’s most wanted list. 

“I’ve got to go now.” Jason says. 

“Me too.” Betty turns away from him. She wants to go home, bounce some of these ideas off of Jughead. She’s relieved that she has someone helping her now. 

She’s five feet away from Jason when she hears him say “I still miss Chic.”

“I know. Me too” Betty replies. She turns to look at Jason one last time but he’s gone.

Jughead is in her dorm room already when she gets back. He and Archie are lounging on the sofa playing video games. It’s good they are getting along, she thinks as she takes off her jacket. 

“Take that.” Jughead yells.

“Eat shit Snake.” Archie replies. 

“What does that even mean?” 

“Snake is a slang way of saying Hedge.” Betty says, walking over to the sofa. She can see now that they are playing some sort of first person shooter. “I’ve got updates. Jughead, when your done with that will you be up for a talk?”

“Sure. We need a plan of attack.” Jughead’s eyes are focused on the screen.

“I’ll be in the library.” Betty says, heading out. 

An hour later her eyes are becoming bleary from reading when she looks up and sees Jughead standing across from the table she was ensconced at.

“Are you ready for a break?” He asks. “You looked so focused I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“I don’t know if focused is the right word for what I was – dazed is more accurate, I think.” Betty offers with a smile. 

“Is it ok if we discuss the updates over coffee?”

“That would be great.” Betty says, “But we will have to walk with it. We don’t want to be overheard.”

Betty leads Jughead off campus, not through an ID triggered door but along a street. “There’s a Starbucks about a mile from here.”

“So where is here?” 

“Westchester County”

“I thought it might be a magical realm.” 

“No, there are lots of wards that keep Normals from seeing the campus, but it’s still very much grounded in this world.”

“That explains the nearby Starbucks.” Jughead says, smiling. The Normal neighborhood that surrounds the campus is all big old suburban houses with generous yards. There are not sidewalks where they are though, so they are walking on the street.

“We’re safer talking about this sort of thing off campus, or in a study room.”

“Why isn’t Archie helping? He seems like a good guy.” Jughead asks.

“Oh, he’s great, but he can’t keep a secret to save his life. He’s asked for me not to tell him anything this time around.”

Jughead nods. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why are you looking into this case? I mean why do you seem to care so much about Hedge Witches?” 

“Archie didn’t tell you?”

“I didn’t ask.” 

“My older brother Chic was one before he died.”

A shocked look crosses Jughead’s face. “Aren’t your parent’s Purists?” 

“They are. They disowned him a long time ago. They haven’t said Chic’s name since he turned 18. Even when he died two years ago, they never said anything about it.”

“Shit.” Jughead said. “I’m sorry. How’d he die?”.

Bettys hands are shaking slightly, it has been a long day. “My brother he never had much magic. He could do little things, but not nearly enough to even qualify for an audition at Longclaw. Even though Chic and his best friend Jason weren’t born with power, they convinced themselves they could become powerful through other means.”

“Other means??” Jughead looked a little confused. 

“Drugs, mostly. Though they tried bartering with the gods too. Chic died of an overdose.”

“And Jason?” Jughead asks.

“Have you heard of Jason Blossom?” 

“Of course! He’s the most powerful Hedge I know of in New York. He was born without power?”

“Practically. When we were kids he couldn’t do anything but generate a small spark through a spell.”

“I had no idea. I’ve never met him, but he’s a legend. People behave like he’s a demi god. If anyone could unify Hedges it would be him.”

“I saw him today. Jason knew what we were investigating and he wanted to help…” After that Betty tells Jughead the whole story. It felt great to be able to share it with someone. Weatherbee had insisted she keep him updated with major developments, but outside of that she’d been on her own. 

She can feel that changing now. Maybe she’s getting ahead of herself, perhaps she is being too optimistic, but it feels like a weight is starting to lift from her shoulders. 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I happen to know from first hand experience that if you head straight for the Temple of Dendur when the met opens, you will have it to yourself for at least five minutes. I did not use this information to meet a secret contact, but to sneak a kiss in the temple. 
> 
> I am super grateful for the feedback so far. Thank you!


	4. Back to Books

Jughead learns seven things before dinner on his first day of classes at Longclaw. 

The first thing that Jughead learns is that while the spell Betty taught him to lock noise out of his room works flawlessly, it does nothing to keep Dilton out of Jughead’s room. 

Jughead wakes at six AM to see Dilton pacing back and forth next to Jughead’s bed ranting about how the end of the world is coming and the school will implode any second. 

Jughead knows he locked the door to his room last night, but apparently Dilton is an excellent lock picker. A fact that Dilton proudly declares when Jughead asks him how got into the room. Jughead’s scowl does not make Dilton any less proud. 

Once he finally chases Dilton out of his room, Dilton proceeds to set off the smoke alarm in the main room twice, Jughead’s not even sure how. 

Jughead is starting to suspect that Dilton is trying to drive him out of the room. Either that or Dilton is legitimately crazy.

The second thing Jughead learns is that Cheryl Blossom is evil incarnate. He learns this at breakfast. He’s eating waffles with Archie when she approaches him, red hair swishing back and forth. She doesn’t have a tray in her hand she only has a cup of coffee. 

“I heard you were a Snake.” She says loud enough for half of the dining hall to hear. Jughead doesn’t know how she knows this, but he decides that lying isn’t going to help the matter, so he nods. 

“I heard you’re friends with Betty Cooper.” He’s only know Betty for a week now, and only spent solid time with her over the last few days. Under normal circumstances he would never call anyone he had known that briefly a friend, but Betty is in every way. She’s even stuck her neck out for him in ways no one else ever has. He’s here because of her. 

Even the envy he felt towards Betty initially is gone. The more he learns about her family, the more fucked up he thinks they are. They’re just fucked up in a completely different way than his.

“Yes.” Jughead says. Cheryl chucks the entire cup of coffee at him. It happens too quickly for him to defend himself with a spell. The liquid is steaming hot. The bulk of it hits his chest. He tries not to react vocally, but it fucking hurts. Cheryl walks away from him without even a backward glance. 

Archie helps him clean up. “Betty’s the reason Cheryl’s parents are in jail.” Archie offers as way of an explanation, while helping Jughead clean up.”

“That case you told me about earlier that almost killed Betty?” Jughead asks. 

Archie nods. “If it makes you feel better, Cheryl threw a cup of coffee at me too.” It does not make Jughead feel better, but it does make him chuckle.

The third thing Jughead learns is that he’s not used to attending classes. This is the first time in over half a decade that he’s been in school. Longclaw is a huge step up from the terrible underfunded high school he attended and the focus is on something he actually cares about, but he still finds himself struggling to stay awake. 

Part of the problem is he hoped that he would be learning lots of interesting things. Like the spells he’s seen Betty use so far, or the one she taught him the other day to block out noise. Almost all of what his classes have covered so far are things that he already knows. Not new exciting things but review. 

The only class where he learns anything new is the History of Magicians. There he’s not learning spells at all, but even though the lecturing style is dry, the actual information about the magical world is interesting. The lecture today covers famous families, and the Blossoms are mentioned. Cheryl is not in the class. Jughead takes plenty of notes.

The fourth thing Jughead learns is how small Longclaw is. Everyone knows everyone else. By the time he makes it to lunch he’s come to the realization that the entire student body is less than a hundred people. 

He discovers that everyone already knows that he is (or was) a hedge (he has no clue how), that he’s friends with Betty, and by extension Archie. He comes to this realization when a woman sits down next to him at lunch, thankfully not carrying coffee or hot liquid of any kind, and introduces herself as Veronica. 

Betty’s not there yet, and Archie’s still picking up his lunch, so Jughead’s alone with her. She’s pretty, but everything about her screams money in a way that makes Jughead uncomfortable. 

Veronica asks him if he misses being a Hedge (as if he’s had the time), what he thinks of Archie (an all-around nice guy, from a friendship stand point), and finally if he is “romantically interested" in Betty – Veronica’s words, not his. 

Jughead was not anticipating the last question and is shocked by her forwardness. Archie unfortunately overhears the last question and adds “I was curious about that myself.”

Thankfully Betty approaches the table at that very moment and asks what they are talking about. Jughead starts complaining about classes. 

He soon learns that Veronica is Betty’s best friend. Archie adds the word also, to Veronica’s proud declaration of that fact. 

Veronica reminds him of Toni in a way, but with money. The rest of the lunch hour passes quickly. 

The fifth thing Jughead learns is that he is in all the wrong classes. He learns this by showing his schedule to Betty after lunch. It turns out that he is in all the same classes as Archie. Betty thinks he needs a more challenging schedule, although at this point in the semester it’s a miracle they fit him at all. 

She makes an appointment with Wetherbee to ensure that Jughead gets a more appropriate course load next semester. 

The sixth thing he learns is about the university’s entirely ridiculous budget. He had some idea of it already. After all the practice room walls were lined with dragon skin and the dorm rooms were wood paneled and looked like they belonged in a mansion. The food they served in the dining hall is excellent, not just terms of preparation, but the quality of ingredients. 

As the day progresses and he goes from class to class it becomes very clear that most of the students are also wealthy. It is clear because of the way the women dress and the way the men talk about their cars. 

Three people in Jughead’s last class, get into a heated discussion over which one has the best Tesla and Jughead feels like punching something. Archie and Betty aren’t like that. All of Betty’s clothes seem more or less normal as far as he can tell, and there is no way her purse could ever be a down payment on a mortgage. 

Still there seems to be some clear link between magic and money and Jughead wants to know what it is. Since this isn’t the sort of thing one can google he asks Archie where the funding comes from as they walk to the Starbucks to pick up a post class coffee. Betty’s busy with some sort of advanced magic seminar, Jughead wishes he could attend.

Archie initial reply is just to tell Jughead that everything is covered by donations from past students.

“Who are all incredibly financially successful?” Jughead answers with a scoff. 

Archie shrugs his shoulder. “Yeah. That’s kind of how Longclaw works. I mean that’s why I wanted to get in so badly. You go here and you leave with either a great job offer at an already established Magician company or an “investment” to start a company. Most Magicians work in the tech industry now, but there are other options.”

“Really?” 

“I don’t know of a major tech company not run by Magicians.”

“Google? Facebook? Apple?”

Archie nods. “For a while there was a lot of pressure for Longclaw to relocate to the Bay area but Weatherbee held out.”

“Shit.” 

“Most students are at least second generation Magicians, so they’re already super wealthy. My mom’s a Magician, but she died when I was young. I was raised by my Normal dad, if it wasn’t for Betty’s constant help with practicing, I wouldn’t be here.” 

“And Betty?” Jughead knew he shouldn’t ask this question, it’s rude and frankly none of his business, but he wants to know. 

“Her family has money, but not like some of the others here. They’ve always focused more on the academic side of magic than the for profit side. Both her parents are professors at St. George’s.”

The seventh thing Jughead learns is how to set up a murder board. Betty’s taken over the old newspaper office at Longclaw (with Wetherbee’s permission of course) and repurposed it as detective office of sorts. 

They set up a murder board in the back. Jason Blossoms photo is up there, as are the photos of the seven hedges that were clearly murdered by the same killer (all killed by the same spell to the heart) and the five hedges that may or may not have been killed by the same man. 

Jughead recognizes a picture of Sweetpea’s ex Ethel, in the row of maybe victims. 

“I think this killer needs a name.” Jughead declares.

“Got any ideas?” 

“Hedge Killer, maybe.”

“That sounds like some sort of garden product.”

“Snake Killer, then?” 

“Not much better but we can work with that.” Betty offers up a small wry smile. 

“We don’t have any idea what he or she looks like right?”

“The only witness claims whoever the killer was, they were wearing a black hood.”

“We could call them that – the black hood.”

Betty nods. “That works.” She writes the name on the top of the board.

“So what our are leads? What is the next step?”

“Jason said my parents know something about it. So I will have to talk to them at some point?”

“You don’t normally talk to them?” Jughead asks.

“Not if I can help it. Thanksgiving is coming up and I have to see them for that, so I might put it off till then. Before that I think the key is to try and see if other hedges know anything, and to try and see if we can find a way to read the book Jason gave me.”

“And how will we do that?” Jughead asks. The murder boards all set up now, but he’s feeling pretty tired. He just wants to go eat something, then laze in front of a television. It’s terrible because there is a murderer out there and no one seems interested in catching him but them, but Jughead feels like it’s a battle they can’t fight tonight. 

There are actually Magicians, called “Officers” whose whole job is to enforce magical laws. They work directly for the High Council, the governing body of magicians. An organization Jughead just learned of last night. But from what Betty and Archie has said the High Council are fairly useless and the officers have zero interest in keeping Hedges safe.

“Tomorrow I will book one of the practice rooms and we can through every spell we know that can’t destroy it, at it.” Betty says. “But for now let’s eat dinner.

“And maybe watch a movie?” 

“I think that can be arranged.”

 

***

 

Betty wakes up at two in the morning to a knock on the door. By the time she stumbles out of bed to get it, Archie is already there, pajama bottom clad and shirtless, opening the door to reveal a rather tired looking Jughead clutching a pillow. They had just seen him a few hours earlier.

The Jughead she is used to seeing during the day is causally tough. There’s something a little bit edgy about him. Part of that might be the fact that every 50th word of his mouth is the word fuck, or it might be the fact that he wears his past like a shield. Jughead might not have told her much about that past yet, but she knows enough to know it isn’t an easy one. 

This Jughead looks exhausted and soft, like he’s at their mercy. It turns out that he is. He woke up 30 minutes ago to a naked Dilton sleeping beside him in bed. 

“That’s not a Longclaw thing right? Because it's fucked up.” 

“It's definitely not a Longclaw thing.” Archie says. “That’s freaky.”

“You can sleep on our sofa.” Betty offers, gesturing towards the ratty one they keep in front of the TV. It is far from ideal, but free from Dilton.

“Thank you.” Jughead walks straight to the sofa and immediately falls asleep on it. 

“Veronica slept through all that?” Betty asks Archie.

“She’s a sound sleeper.” Archie offers as he opens the door to his bedroom. Betty pads sleepily back to her own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m not going with “then they had to share a bed” trope, but close ;) 
> 
> I am going to say right now even though I am calling this serial killer the Black Hood, he is not Hal Cooper – I promise.
> 
> I finally added a chapter count. Though it is more of an educated guess than anything. I will update it again probably, once I am more confident. 
> 
> I don't swear at all, so I don't why this version of Jughead has such a foul mouth. Sorry. 
> 
> So grateful for comments.


	5. The Prodigal Father

“So are you coming to Forsythe Pendleton’s lecture this afternoon?” Archie asks Jughead over lunch. A look crosses Jughead’s face, that Betty reads as disdain but Archie appears not to have noticed it. 

Jughead shrugs and returns to stuffing spaghetti into his mouth. Betty stays silent. This is Jughead’s secret to tell if he wants to, and she gets it if he doesn’t. 

She bets his father doesn’t even know Jughead’s a student here (hell, he might not even know the nickname Jughead goes by), if Jughead doesn’t go to the lecture there is a chance they will never meet as adults. Hell, even if Jughead does go the chanced are slim. Longclaw is a small school but alumni are encouraged to attend events like this, and the professors almost always attend, so they’re could easily be two hundred people there.

“Do you know about him?” Archie asks, taking a sip of his soda.

“Only what Betty’s told me.” Jughead replies, sending a wink in Betty’s direction. 

“He has made gold from nothing and gotten away with it. He’s played a series of ridiculous pranks on the magical council. He’s kind of my hero.”

“You could choose a better one.” Betty mumbles in a way where Jughead can hear every word, but Archie can’t make out one of them. Archie shoots her a look. He misinterprets the mumble entirely. 

“Are you guys dating? You can tell me.” He says.

“Archie, if we were dating I wouldn’t have spent the last three weeks breaking my back on your terrible sofa.” Jughead states. Betty blushes, because it assumes a lot of her. Jughead sees that and looks guilty. He opens his mouth as if to take it back, but she smiles and shakes away his unstated apology. 

It’s not like she doesn’t like the idea of dating Jughead, she does. He’s attractive, and funny, and determined. He’s the right kind of quirky and she finds herself forgetting that they’ve known each other for less than a month. They have the kind of easy friendship that usually takes years to develop. 

She suspects he finds her attractive too. He looks at her in a way that lingers. He has strict physical boundaries with everyone else, including Archie, who he clearly likes as a friend, but with her, these boundaries are porous. When they watch movies together on the sofa she sometimes forgets they’re not dating because of how snuggled in together they get. 

But they’re firmly on the friendship side of the relationship divide right now, and Betty’s not opposed to staying there. She hates the idea of a protentional break up affecting their investigation or their friendship. She’s just not sure either of them has the self-restraint to stay on the friendship side of the line.

The lecture is scheduled for two hours from now, and Betty has one more class before. She finishes the last bite of her salad, says goodbye to both boys, and busses the table.

Her class, a one on one lesson in vanishing acts with Weatherbee is helpful. She learned how to vanish inanimate objects a while ago, but rendering herself invisible is a whole different challenge, not just in terms of the initial spell but in terms of maintaining the magic. The first time she went invisible she drained her power so fast she only stayed invisible for 30 seconds and she couldn’t do even the most basic spell for the rest of the day. 

Now she can maintain it for up to three minutes, and her magic endurance had improved overall, something she frankly didn’t think was possible. Weatherbee himself seemed rather impressed. 

After the tutorial session Betty checked her cellphone to see a text from Jughead – **Going. Be my seatmate?” was all it said** .

She goes to the lecture hall first and grabs a seat right in the back, saving two beside her. Archie and Val enter together but want to sit upfront, Betty is grateful for that in a way. The hall fills up, till the only seat free was the one beside Betty. Still there is no Jughead. 

FP Jones takes the stage. He is wearing a leather jacket and jeans. He is a lot older than Jughead clearly, but to Betty they looked like the spitting image of each other. The same skin tone, similar hair, same facial structure. How everyone didn’t look at Jughead and say, that’s FP’s son, was shocking to her now that she’s seen FP in person. 

Although maybe that was just because she knew the truth. FP says a booming Hello into the microphone and his son slides into the seat beside her.

She leans over and whispers in his ear “Cold feet?”. He nods a reply, face and body stiff. Then she sits back and listens to the lecture, trying not to pay too much attention to Jughead’s nervous fidgeting beside her.

FP is an engaging speaker. If Betty didn’t know his history as a dead beat dad (and consider his son one of her closest friends and de facto third roommate), he probably would have won Betty over with his tails of tricking fairies and manipulating presidents. 

It wasn’t just the stories themselves, but the way he tells them. All charm and understatement if one didn’t listen too close. By the end of the speech even Jughead has relaxed a little. His hand no longer nervously tapping on the arm of Betty’s chair, but resting there.

The question and answer period was where things got dicey. FP off script seemed a little jarring. A little “screw those rich idiots” even though he was clearly rich at this point. Cheryl’s question was the one that really set Jughead on edge.

“What do you think about Hedges?” She asked. Even before FP answered it, Betty could feel Jughead’s posture change. He sat up, his hands clenching the armrest.

“I was a Hedge.” FP said. “But like all good Hedges, I didn’t stay that way. If you’re really good you make your way into the world of Magicians, of formal magic, one way or another. Hell, my son was a Hedge and now he’s here.”

Betty instinctually grabs Jugheads hand. He clasps it tightly. Betty braces for the worst, for Jughead to be summoned up there, or something, but instead FP just answers another question, and then the whole ordeal is over. Jughead exhales so loudly Betty can hear it over the crowd clapping. Weatherbee must have told FP about Jughead, there was no way around it.

Once the clapping dies down Jughead turns to her and says “I can’t believe he just told everyone at school he’s my dad. He hasn’t even spoken to me in 20 years.” 

“At least he didn’t tell them your real name.” Betty said, trying to add some levity to the situation. Although anyone could figure out who FP was talking about. There weren’t a lot of former Hedges that attended Longclaw.

They get up to go and find their exit blocked by a tall bearded man with curly greasy hair. 

“Your father wants to see you.” The man says gruffly.

“Tell FP, thanks but no thanks.” Jughead says.

“It’s not really a choice. It’s either see him now or have Weatherbee call you down to his office in half an hour to have this conversation in front of him.”

“Ok.” Jughead says “But only if Betty comes with me.” Betty’s a little surprised by that. But she’s not going to protest. If he needs her for this that’s fine. 

“Sure, bring your girlfriend.” The man says, turning away. Neither of them rushes to correct him, Betty doesn’t want to complicate the issue further. 

They follow the man through the crowd and the rush to one of the training rooms. “Wait here.” He says before leaving. The training room isn’t a bad meeting place. It’s sound proof and spell proof, no one can eavesdrop on them here.

“This is fucked up.” Jughead says the minute the door closes.

“We can go.” Betty says, with a shrug. “No one’s going to stop us.”

“And be dragged down to Weatherbee’s office 15 minutes later? No thank you.” Jughead says. Betty’s never seen him angry before and he clearly is now. She must have a strange expression on her face because Jughead turns to her and says “You don’t have to stay though. I mean I would feel a lot better if you did.”

“I will.” Betty understands. There’s a reason she talks Archie into coming home at least once a year with her. Buffer can help with parents. At least she knows what to expect from hers. FP is a complete wild card, unknown by either of them.

FP enters. He’s a little shorter than Jughead. On stage he was full of confidence but here he doesn’t seem that way at all. There’s this nervous energy bubbling off him. Betty realizes that she knows this only because she’s used to reading Jughead’s tells, and FP’s are similar. 

FP looks at Jughead, he seems to be taking in every detail and then he turns towards Betty.

“Hi, I’m FP.” He introduces himself to her as if she hadn’t spent the last hour listening to him talk.

“I’m Betty.” She says firmly. She thinks FP would know who her parents were and so she decided to keep her last name out of it.

FP turns his attention back to Jughead “Weatherbee tells me your going by the name Jughead now.”

“I have been going by that name for the last 19 years.” Jughead said. His eyes meet FP’s and Betty can still see the anger in them. 

“I’m sorry. When I left you with your mom, I’d just gotten into Longclaw, I’d just discovered formal magic. A whole world opened up for me.”

“And the door to the old one closed forever?” Betty surprises herself by saying that. There is venom in her throat. 

“No, of course not. I just assumed Jughead didn’t inherit my skills. He” and with that FP paused and re-directed his focus from Betty to Jughead “You could have always looked me up.”

“I did. Back when I was in Highschool. You might be a big deal in the magic-verse but in the normal one, the one Google can access you are nobody. I was shit out of luck. There was nothing I could find on you.” Jughead said. “You’ve got to remember I was a child, you’re the adult, you’re the fuck-up.”

“Did your mother raise you to swear like that, boy?” FP asks, and for a moment Betty thinks Jughead’s going to slam a fireball at him. His fingertips come together in the way they often do before he flings one. But they pull apart at the last minute.

“My mother raised me well enough, but she died when I was 15. If you want a list of the 10 foster families I flipped through after that, I suppose I could dig it up somewhere.”

“I had no idea.” FP says. Betty’s beginning to realize that this was a lot more than FP bargained for. FP was actually foolish enough to think he could just waltz in here and charm a child he abandoned half a lifetime ago.

“Betty, let’s go.” Jughead says, taking her hand. 

“Son, I can explain. Please give me a chance.” 

“I don’t think you can. I get it, you were a Hedge and then you got seduced by the luxury of formal magic and this place. I understand. I was a Hedge three weeks ago and I don’t miss anything about it. This is my home, my life now. The big difference is that I didn’t leave a family behind. I wouldn’t have.” Jughead meets FP’s eyes when he says this.

“Magic wasn’t my only issue, boy. I was addicted to alcohol. I was angry. It was probably better that I wasn’t there.” 

Betty doesn’t know everything that happened to Jughead before she met him, but she bets having someone in his life after his mother died, would be better than no one. She thinks FP’s letting himself off easy. She doesn’t respond and neither does Jughead. 

“Look, will you give me a chance or not?” FP says. Jughead doesn’t say anything. Betty feels the silence in her bones. The space feels very uncomfortable. “Please?” 

Betty loathes the idea of speaking up for Jughead but she thinks it might be the right thing to do. 

“What if Jughead gives you his email address, and you write him an email and you start from there. Slowly. This isn’t the sort of situation where you have one conversation and you hug it out – although it sort of seems like you wouldn’t mind that.” Betty’s meeting FP’s gaze when she says this, but all she’s really thinking about is Jughead. She hopes she hasn’t over stepped. But he gives her a tight nod and she takes that as approval. 

He writes down his email address on a piece of paper and hands it to FP. “What about a phone number?” FP asks. Jughead glares his answer and opens the door to the practice room. Betty walks through it without a backward look.

They both start walking towards Betty’s dorm room and it becomes clear that everyone on campus knows the news. Josie’s running towards them across the quad and Betty’s receiving a new text message every second.

“Let’s go.” Betty says and she opens a door with her ID and she leads Jughead out into lower Manhattan. Instead of staying in the West Village she leads him to the subway. That way if anyone follows them through the portal, they won’t find them. She turns her phone off on the subway.

She can tell Jughead’s not really paying attention. He’s still in his head. She doesn’t talk. She tries not to distract him. This is tricky, because she wants to give him space, but she knows she shouldn’t leave him alone. 

Still she comes up with an idea. They get off the subway and she leads him to the Stanton Island Ferry. After a ten minute wait they board. All the way over to the Island he stays silent. It’s a cold day, but clear and they stay out on the deck the whole time. 

She can tell he’s starting to feel more like himself. His posture relaxes, his breathing steadies. He starts to take in their surroundings. He puts one arm around her back, so even though there is silence between them, they are sharing warmth, comfort.

When the ferry leaves the dock for the return trip he finally speaks. “Thank you.”

Betty smiles. “Of course.”

“My family is just so fucked up.”

“Agreed.”

“I just can’t imagine doing what my dad did.”

“We are not our parents.” Betty says. 

Jughead leans down and kisses the top of her head. Betty’s cheeks flush and her lips find there way into a smile for a second, then he bends down and kisses her. Tentatively at first, then not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update a little sooner than usual. I don't know if these means I will do a Monday update still, or not. I just couldn't resist posting this chapter after writing it. 
> 
> Always grateful for comments. Hopefully I pulled this chapter off.
> 
> I am on [tumbler](https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/)


	6. Investigations

Jughead leads Betty into The 5 of Cups. It’s been a month since he’s been here but he used to go here at least once a week. It’s in Queens, not far from his old loft, and it has been Hedge central for almost two hundred years now. 

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t Normals around most nights, there are, but the back room is Hedges only. You’ve got to show your magic to get in. Jughead earned his way in six months ago, with the creation of a cup from thin air, but tonight it’s Betty’s turn. 

She’s been overthinking it, in what he now likes to refer to as a classic Betty way. Which means she wrote two pages of possible spell ideas before eliminating them one by one. It’s really funny to him because she easily has enough magic to get in there, no problem, and all she’s worried about is making the right impression.

In other words she desperately wants to come off as a Hedge Witch, and not a Magician. Jughead’s assured her that there is no reason to worry, after all he’d never even known the distinction existed, before their first subway ride together. But he’s started to worry a little since then. 

He’s been playing conversations he’d had with Toni, Fangs, and others at the bar over and over in his head. Maybe what he had assumed were sarcastic remarks about Longclaw and formal magic, were not just jokes to them, but grounded in reality. Maybe they knew Longclaw actually existed and he had just assumed the other.

Jughead had grown up in Toledo, where the formal magical community didn’t even really exist, Betty had confirmed that. Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs had grown up in New York, which as far as he could tell was the heart of the magic community. The odds that they knew about formal magic were rather high.

The front space of The 5 of Cups looked like every other dive bar in Queens. He took Betty’s hand as they walked through the room and to the black door next to the bar, the one marked Employees Only. He rapped on the door four times with his knuckles and then tapped the palm of his hand against it. 

The door opens to reveal the bartender, Joaquin. Jughead knew him, though not well “Come in.” Joaquin says, just seeing Jughead at first, then he sees Betty. “First timers have to prove their worth”. 

Betty flattens her palm and makes a fist against it three times, before uttering a few words under her breath. A small bouquet of daisies appears in her hand and she hands them to Joaquin with a theatrical bow.   
“Impressive.” Joaquin says, shaking his head. “And you are?”

“Betty.” 

“Come in” Joaquin says, as he ushers them into the back room. The back room can fit about 50 people comfortably, and 45 are already there. The space is dimly lit, crowded, and loud. Jughead spots Toni and Sweet Pea in the back right away and they spot him and wave him towards them. He pulls Betty with him. 

Toni and Sweet Pea introduce themselves, and Jughead orders drinks, an IPA for himself and Dark & Stormy for Betty (she doesn’t drink much, but when she does, she drinks that). He can tell she’s nervous by the way she’s positioned her hands underneath the table, but her face is all smiles and she’s asking polite questions about where they work.

Sweet Pea keeps staring at her oddly. Like he might recognize her, but Jughead doesn’t know how he could. 

“You look a lot like a girl I know. Any chance you have a sister?’ Sweet Pea asks.

“I do. Polly.”

Sweat Pea hits the table with the palm of his hand, a brilliant smile on his face. “I knew it. You look a lot alike. Is she still running that cult for Normals?”

“Yep.” Betty says. Jughead is impressed that she manages not to roll her eyes. Betty loves Polly, but the cult not so much. She thinks it’s an unhealthy way of rebelling against their parents. 

“It’s impressive, what she’s doing there. Have you ever been?” 

“Not yet.” Betty shakes her head. 

“Wait, so if Polly’s your sister, Chic was your brother.” Toni says, meeting Betty’s gaze. Betty nods a yes. “Sorry for your loss.” 

Betty takes a sip of her drink “There have been a lot of more recent losses though.” 

“Yes. But how would you know that? You’re at Longclaw right?” Toni said, her eyebrows raised and questioning. Jughead can tell Betty wants to deny it, but there really isn’t a point. His former Roommates know about formal magic after all.

“We both are.” Jughead says quietly so no one outside of their table can hear. He knows there is no going back now, and no coming to this bar again. 

Toni sent Sweet Pea a look, along with the words “I told you so. Europe my ass.”

“Look, I’ll never come here again. But Betty’s seeking the hedge killer. That’s how we met actually.”

“and that’s how you got into Longclaw?” Toni said skeptically.

“That’s how I got my audition.” Jughead said. He feels a little embarrassed by this. 

“Shit, I failed my audition.” Toni sighs.

“I didn’t even get one.” Sweet Pea says. 

“Well I didn’t even know it was real till I met Betty, I thought you guys were just joking.” Jughead said, he figured if he embarrassed himself they might be more open to opening up. 

“No shit?” Sweet Pea remarks.

“No shit.” 

“So will you tell us about the Black Hood or should we just leave?” Jughead said.

“The Black Hood?” Toni asks.

“It’s what we’re calling the person whose killing Hedges, he or she was spotted wearing a black hood at one of the crime scenes.” Betty says.

Toni and Sweet Pea turn to each other and shrug. They seem to have decided that they can share what they know because Sweet Pea turns towards Betty and says. “About twenty Hedges have been killed that I know of, and all but one lived in Queens.”

The list they have on the murder board at Longclaw has fifteen names on it. Some of the Hedges they know a fair amount about. Some, they know nothing. 

“Really?” Betty says. “There is a concentration of Hedges in Queens but I didn’t expect those numbers to be so skewed. Maybe the killer lives here too.”

Toni’s eyes lit up “That’s the weird bit. Five of the kills were in Manhattan, and one in Brooklyn, even though those Hedges lived in Queens.”

“What?” Jughead says. 

“Lots of Hedges are moving because of that. Toni and I found a place in Harlem, even The 5 of Cups is moving.”

“Shit.” Jughead says.

“That’s motive.” Betty murmurs into his ear. 

“Or it could be coincidence. Like you said, most Hedges live in Queens it could just be the luck of the draw.” Toni offers with a shrug.

“You said one of the Hedges wasn’t living in Queens. Which one?”

“Chuck Clayton, neither of us knew him though. He lived on the Upper East Side.” That is one of the names not on their murder board. Jughead has never heard of him, but from the shocked expression on Betty’s face, she has.

“He’s a legacy. The Clayton’s are a big magic family. He was in Longclaw three years ago, but he got expelled. I don’t know the details because it was before my time. Polly interacted with him a bit, but she dropped out before he was expelled.”

“Fuck.” Jughead says. “He’s not on our list. Was he killed recently?”

“In the last week or so. The body count really went up this week.” So that’s why those names weren’t on the murder board, it was out of date. 

“Can you write down all the names of the victims? And anything you know about them, location of living space, personality, powers.” Betty fishes a pencil and a piece of paper out of her purse and hands them to Toni, who looks at Sweet Pea and then together they talk through a list. Occasionally consulting their phones to verify facts. 

Jughead goes up and orders Toni and Sweet Pea drinks. He’s grateful they’re putting this kind of effort in. He knows they have reason to trust him, he’d been a friend, and a fairly decent roommate. But Betty was a stranger to them, from a separate world, even. 

He comes back with the drinks and they finish off the list. Betty reviews it and offers up a low whistle. “Thank you guys. This is super helpful.”

“We knew most of the people on it, if just tangentially. We’re a pretty tight knit community.”

“Can I ask who on this list had a lot of power?” Betty asks. “Chuck supposedly did. I know that much about him.”

“Ethel was powerful for sure.” Sweet Pea says and he pokes at a few more names. “They were supposed to be.” Jughead recognizes one of them as the owner of the note book Betty had, the invisible one they can’t seem to make visible. Tara Clark was her name. 

“Thank you! We should be going, but please text Jug if you find out anything more.” Betty says. 

“You know we’re not just talking to you because you came here with Jughead. Your siblings are good people and that counts for something.” Sweet Pea says softly. 

“And Pea’s always had a thing for Polly.” Toni winks. 

“I’m grateful. And we will keep you updated too, if we figure anything out.” Jug says as he gets up to leave. This went a whole lot better than he had expected (which was to be thrown in the first five minutes).

They leave and Jughead takes Betty’s hand on the walk back. It’s cold enough that they should be wearing gloves, but it feels nice to share the warmth they do have. 

“They’re nice.” Betty says quietly, breaking the companionable silence between them. 

“Yeah. I always liked them. Plus they were far superior roommates to Dilton.”

Betty laughs “That’s a really low bar.”

“So far you’re my favorite roommate.” 

“And you’re saying that even though you’re stuck on the sofa?” Betty says with a smile and a kiss that offers hope that he won’t be on it for much longer 

Jughead is smiling when they enter the subway station. Longclaw doesn’t have any doors in Queens, so they have to make their way to Manhattan. “Why aren’t there ID pass doors in Queens?” Jughead asks. 

“Doors are donated by Alumni and they get a say in where they are placed, so while there are a few in wealthy parts of Brooklyn, they’re all mostly in Manhattan.”

“Do you think that’s why the Hedges living in Queens were murdered in Manhattan?” Jughead asks as they wait for the train. This stop isn’t the same one they met at, but he’s reminded of that night again. Thankfully there are no reanimated corpses on the platform.

“Maybe. St. Georges has different doors all around Manhattan too, so it’s not linked to Longclaw, necessarily. There are apparently a few private doors too, but not much is known about them.”

The train arrives and they get on and sit side by side, their hands still linked. Jughead suspects that he’s still sleeping on the sofa partially for Archie’s benefit. They haven’t told anyone they are what they are, whatever that is, Jughead doesn’t feel like they’re under any pressure to define it. 

They haven’t had sex yet, but they’ve certainly come close. Once in a practice room the only thing that stopped them was a sudden knock on the door. Betty’s talked a little about nerves. Given what Archie’s told him, he isn’t shocked to discover that the only person she’s ever slept with before is Trev. He knows she’s not the kind of person to have sex with someone she’s not serious about. 

Frankly he’s the same way, although he doesn’t have a tragic past love story involving a boyfriend turned werewolf. The girls he was with before were both friends that turned into something more, one staying that way for six months, the other for a year. Though he couldn’t say that he loved either of them, he liked them a whole lot. He took them seriously.

He’s never had a friend like Betty before, no one has ever supported him the way she has. He's never let anyone else in like he has her. The physical progression scares him a little, not because of where it could lead (he wants that, badly) or how it feels, but the idea of breaking up with someone that gets him like Betty does seems impossibly stupid. Yet that's his only experience with being part of a couple, breaking up. 

The last two weeks since he first met his FP have been rather stressful. First there were the campus gossips to deal with. Everyone who’d never talked to him before made it a point to. Everyone who did actually know him suddenly acted as if they were BFF’s. Only Betty, Archie, and Veronica didn’t act differently. That had actually won Veronica a place in Jughead’s limited good book. 

FP has sent him three emails since they’d met, all trying to explain FP's point of view. Jughead had answered one but hadn’t gone much further than this. But it did seem clear that FP now wanted some sort of role in his life, beyond that of sperm donor. Though he was yet unsure of what (or why, frankly). 

They got off the subway at the first stop in Manhattan and use the door of a coffee shop to arrive effortlessly at the lawn in Longclaw. They head to Betty’s dorm. It was late on a Friday night but still Jughead was surprised to not find Archie parked on the couch, or in his bedroom. 

“He’s out.” Jughead says.

“Yes. I think at Veronica’s but maybe Val’s?”

“What’s his deal with Ronnie?” 

“They both don’t want to settle. That’s what they’ve told me at least.”

“Sounds exhausting.” Jughead says with an exhale. 

“Agreed.” Betty says pressing a kiss to his lips. He presses back. His lips are a little chapped and he feels self-conscious. Hers are soft and delicate. He sits down and lifts her sideways on to his lap, the kisses only broken for a few seconds. Her face is flushed when he looks at it, before he kisses her again, first on the lips, then the cheeks, then the neck, then the collarbone. 

She makes a sound that almost resembles a purr and he laughs quietly into the crook of her neck. She places her hands on either side of his face and asks with bright eyes “Bed?”

“Bed.” He says, and he can’t resist the grin his face breaks out in. He stands up with her in his arms, one around her back, one under her knees. This time they're not in a practice room and no one knocks on the door, and everything is even better, although entirely different than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. I promise I won’t do a similar break next chapter. There is not going to be another time leap between this chapter and the next one, it will start very soon after where we left off here.
> 
> I also sketched out the whole rest of the story on Sunday night and I really think this new chapter count will stick.
> 
> I am thankful for comments!


	7. The Seen and Unseen

Jughead wakes in the first bed he’s slept in a month. Light is streaming in through the window and a glance at Betty’s alarm clock informs it is 10. He doesn’t want to move though. Betty’s head is resting on his chest and he feels fully satisfied in a way he hadn’t even hoped to feel before. 

He wonders if she’s asleep but she must sense him stirring as she looks up into his eyes. Seeing that flash of green makes him feel impossibly happy.

“Hey.” Betty says sleepily. Jughead presses a kiss against her shoulder.

“So I have an awkward question to ask you. But I can’t ask anyone else.” Jughead says looking down at her. She’s got a camisole on, but she still seems so vulnerable, there in his arms. 

“Ok. Go ahead.” 

“I’ve never been with a Magician or a Hedge Witch before, so I’m not sure if it’s normal or not.”

“What’s normal?” Betty turns to look at him. He can’t believe she’s making him spell it out.

“Floating. During sex. Is it a normal Magician thing?”

Betty laughs and blushes at the same time. “I’d only been with Trev before, and it didn’t happen with him. So I’m leaning towards not normal.”

“And Archie’s never brought it up before?” 

“I don’t want to know details about that!!” Betty exclaims loudly. “But now that you mention it, based on what Archie has said, I don’t think he has. It’s the sort of thing he wouldn’t be able to shut up about.”

 

*****

They go to breakfast and find Veronica eating on her own, so Archie must be otherwise occupied. Jughead sits down across from her and sips his coffee in between shoveling waffles into his mouth. 

Betty takes the lead on the conversation. Jughead doesn’t know Veronica very well, and besides that he is preoccupied with what happened last night and this morning. He feels deeply content in a way he doesn’t remember feeling before and it must show because Veronica turns to him. 

“Why do you have such an enormous grin on your face?” Veronica asks. “We’re talking about politics. It’s not exactly exciting stuff.”

Jughead swallowed his bite quickly. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. Just thinking.”

“About?” Veronica demanded. Jughead didn’t even need to look at Betty to know she was blushing.

“Class this week.” He said, quickly taking another bite of waffle.

“I wish I could smile that way about class.” Veronica says a hint of skepticism in her voice. 

“What are you working on V?” Betty says, eager to change the subject matter.

“This visibility spell”. Jughead knows Betty’s area of expertise and academic focus is invisibility. But they’ve been struggling for a month now with making Tara Clarks journal visible. Betty makes her writing invisible all the time, but none of the reversal spells she’s used before work on Tara’s journals.

“What?” Betty asks loudly.

“You know a spell to render all invisible things visible. I’ve made progress with it. I’ve had help, Professor Harkness really walked be through one of the tricky bits. But I made a breakthrough yesterday. I made the spells around one of the ID doors visible.” 

“Fuck. That’s great.” Jughead said, placing his fork down. This is what they’d been looking for and apparently Veronica has it. 

“I mean I tried to duplicate it again later last night and failed completely, but it’s a start.” Veronica says with a smile. “Don’t get too excited.”

“We could really use that spell, V. We’ve been trying to make the contents of this notebook in the black hoods case visible and we keep failing. We could really use your help.”

“The great Betty Cooper struggling with magic? This is unprecedented.” Veronica says with a smile. “Count me in.” 

***

Veronica joins them in a practice room at 1 PM. The spell she is working on takes almost ten minutes to cast. Betty watches closely and takes notes. She wants to ask questions but she doesn’t want to interrupt Veronica’s concentration. 

Veronica casts very differently than Betty does, she uses more steps, and so Betty’s writing as fast as she can. She can see Jughead behind Veronica, imitating every step she is taking, as a way to learn, or at least start to learn the spell. 

Jughead learns in such a different way than Betty does. It’s all about the physicality for him. That plays a role for Betty but not as strong as one. Everything comes down to words for her, to studying, and to the power that comes through her body naturally. Natural talent was something she never lacked. 

The first time Veronica casts the spell on the book it gleams for a minute, revealing a few scrawled words, including the name Jason Blossom. The third time Veronica casts the spell, it sticks. The words on the pages stay visible. 

Betty hugs Veronica, feeling full of gratitude for the situation. “You’re amazing”

“Hey, you guys helped me too. You gave me something to practice on. The problem with finding invisible things to make visible, is well, pretty damn obvious.”

“I’m thankful, anyways.” Jughead’s got a great smile, when he uses it, and it is on full display right now. 

Veronica leaves to take a nap, and they head out to their office. Once there, Jughead really wishes they had a couch, but instead they push two chairs side by side. Betty leans into Jughead and then opens the book and holds it in front of them, so they can both read it. 

The first dozen pages are gossipy personal notes, with the occasional grocery list or doodle sketched in the margins. Once they get further into the journal there starts to be a reoccurring reference to the Red Circle. Betty’s not sure what that is at first, but as she reads further it becomes clear that it is a group of Hedge Witches. 

It’s not clear exactly why the Red Circle formed or what the purpose is initially but starting in early September their focus is to stop the Black Hood, although Tara calls him Hedge Killer in the notebook. 

As they read more it becomes clear how many members of the Red Circle are no longer living. Chuck Clayton and Ethel Muggs were involved, as well as five more names on the list Toni and Sweet Pea put together. All of them Toni or Pea had highlighted as particularly powerful. The only living member of the Red Circle appears to be Jason Blossom, much to Betty’s surprise.

“You’d think he would have told me he knew Tara, right?” Betty asks. 

Jughead shrugs. “Maybe he didn’t want to compromise the evidence by revealing too much.”

“If he’s the only living member of the Red Circle, he’s got to be on the Black Hoods hit list.” Betty pulls up her phone and shoots off a text to his number. She can see that he reads it right away, but he doesn’t respond at all. She sends out another, spelling out the fact they’re reading the book. 

A text comes back 10 minutes later, [b]Alice in Wonderland 7AM Next Saturday – All will be explained [/b]. Betty’s relieved that he’s willing to talk, although more than a little frustrated that they have to wait that long. Besides Jason’s life could be in danger, when she texts him about that though he just texts back “I know.” Jughead groans when he reads the text “I do not want to get up that early on a Saturday.” 

“You don’t have to come.” Betty says with a shrug. Jason would probably be happier if he didn’t. 

“Of course, I’m coming.”

They keep pouring over the book, trying to come up with clues. Betty grows tired. She conjures up two cups of coffee, but that doesn’t help much.

But they do discover a few more things. Most importantly they are sure the Black Hood is a male and they’re sure he’s linked to Longclaw in some way, because someone witnessed him using a Longclaw door. That doesn’t mean he’s a student or a teacher, which would reduce the number of possible killers immensely, but he could also be an alumni.

The other thing that they know is something Jughead and Betty have already started to figure out. Geography plays a role, although the Red Circle is not exactly sure what that role is. But the Red Circle also hypothesized that the goal of the Black Hood was to get the Hedges out of Queens. 

Betty stands up. Her whole body aches from lack of movement. They made great strides today, but she still wants to get something down on paper. Sometimes only once she’s documented things does she feel like she has made progress. So she starts to add notes to their murder board.

“Betty, I’m famished. We have to go get food.”

“After I write these last few notes down.” 

He gives her a pleading look and she smiles at him. “Ok, you update the murder board. I’ll put a few names down on the suspect list, and then we can go. It will take less than five minutes. Then you can eat as many burgers as you like and I will not judge you.”

“Ok.” He says it begrudgingly, but he kisses her gently on the cheek as he takes over the murder board. 

She goes over to the giant pad of paper on the easel and writes down the names of any current students, facility and Alumni that are male and have openly spoken against Hedges. She’s sure she is missing lots of people, some she doesn’t know about, some she might remember later, but already it is an extensive list that includes her father, Reggie Mantle, Dilton Doily, and dozens of others. 

Jughead comes besides her and loops his arm over her shoulders. “Hiram Lodge? Any relationship to Veronica?”

“Her father.” 

“And he’s a Purist?” 

“Yep, but so is everyone else on this list. And really it’s still incomplete.”

“Do you think she’d mind you putting her dad on there?”

“Veronica and Hiram aren’t close. Besides my own father is on there. ”

“At least that’s one argument for my dad, he’s not a Purist.” Betty laughs, even though she knew it wasn’t really a joke. “Can we eat now, Betts?”

She looks at the intimidating list again. Staying any longer wouldn’t help. “Let’s go.” He presses a kiss into the center of her forehead before taking her hand and pulling her towards the dining hall. 

 

***

 

The credits start to roll on Blade Runner. Archie gets up and stretches. “That was good, man. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.” Jughead could believe it. Archie tended to not watch any movies not made in the last five years, not on principle, just out of habit.

“It’s a classic for a reason.” Jughead says, with a yawn.

“There’s a new one too, right? We should watch that tomorrow.” Archie says, sounding excited.

Jughead shrugs. He would rather not. He’s probably the opposite of Archie, every movie made in the last 5 years is suspect to him, but he’s willing to give it a go.

“I should let you get to bed, or couch, rather.” Archie says, sending off a text and shrugging on a jacket. 

“Who’s the lucky lady tonight?” Jughead asks. He generally doesn’t. Archie is a great friend but his approach to love, or rather sex, is entirely foreign to Jughead, who finds the idea of sleeping with someone he doesn’t know, unappealing on general principle. Although he guess at least in the case of both Veronica and Val, Archie knows them fairly well. 

“Oh, just Veronica.”

“She helped Betty and I today.” Jughead says. “With the case.”

“Does that mean you like her now?” Archie asks with a grin on his face.

“Yeah. Am I that predictable?”

“Pretty much. Don’t wait up” Archie says as he exits.

“As if.” Jughead says with a smile. Archie closes the door and Jughead counts to ten as slowly as he can before getting up and heading into Betty’s room. She’s in bed reading. Her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. She has a soft tired look on her face. Jughead feels so damn lucky.

She looks up at him “I thought that movie would never end.”

“You know you could have watched it with us?”

“I had school work.”

Jughead looks at the book in her lap now, it’s one of the later Harry Potter books. “We’re studying that now?”

“Ha-ha. Earlier I was studying. Now I’m comfort reading.” Betty says laying the book down on the bedside table. Jughead peels of his pants and sheds his shirt before crawling into bed beside her and kissing her neck, the skin is soft and sensitive. 

After, when they’re lying all wrapped up in each other, Jughead tries to memorize every detail of the moment. Not just the way she looks, or he looks, but the stuff you can’t photograph, the way she feels, her body colder than his, her scent similar to earth after rain. The way he feels with her weight against one side of him, her hand pressed over his heart. 

“You ready to go to sleep?” Betty asks. 

“Not yet, that actually kind of woke me up.” Jughead says. 

“Do you mind if I read a bit. It helps me settle my mind.”

“As long as you read out-loud.” Jughead hasn’t read the Harry Potter books in a decade, but he remembers some of it. 

She smiles and then starts reading a passage about Harry in the room of requirements. It takes him a while to figure out what is going on, and soon he’s drifting in and out of consciousness. There is something impossibly luxurious about this, being read to sleep, by a beautiful, wonderful, lover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback. I've had a particular sleep deprived week (less than 4 hours a night), and I hope that it's not showing in this update. 
> 
> Also this is my second double update week, maybe it will become a thing?


	8. High Above the Island

It is Thanksgiving and campus is deserted. They were supposed to be at Betty’s parents interrogating them about their possible involvement in the Black Hood murders, but Betty called off the visit. Officially it’s because of the meeting with Jason. Unofficially Jughead suspects it’s because she doesn’t want to see her parents, and she doesn’t want him to have to meet them. 

He’s overheard one of their phone conversations now and he fucking gets it. So instead they have the campus more or less to themselves. Although Archie’s back from visiting his dad already, and he and Archie are currently playing mind numbing but entirely satisfying video games while Betty is working in the practice rooms.

“So are you and Betty dating?” Archie doesn’t meet Jughead’s eyes as he asks the question. Instead he’s focused on the TV screen where his digital character is fighting Jughead’s digital character. The question was inevitable. The sofa they were sitting on right now has not been slept on all week. A fact Jughead and Jughead’s back were both very grateful for. However Betty and he still haven’t gone on anything that resembles a traditional date. 

“No.” says Jughead, his elf fairy kicks Archie’s giant in the gut on screen.

“Oh.” There’s a dark tone in Archie’s voice and he hits the pause button on the game. “So your hooking up then?” 

Jughead had hoped to avoid having this conversation with Archie, with anyone really, but Betty. And frankly he hasn’t had this conversation with Betty yet because he thinks they are already on the same page. It’s not like they’re in high school. 

“No. You’ve known Betty since Kindergarten. She does not hook up. I don’t either, but you met me less than two months ago so you’re going to have to trust me on that.”

Archie turns to face Jughead. “So you’re her boyfriend?” 

Jughead has always hated that word. Particularly now that he’s in a meaningful adult relationship. It seems so childish. He’s an adult, a man, but if he’s dating someone he’s reduced to a boy. But partner is too business like and lover seems too intimate to say to other people. 

“I guess. I prefer to think of myself as her person.”

Archie looks at Jughead as if trying to figure something out about him, then finally he shakes his head and un-pauses the video game. 

“Aren’t you going to threaten to kill me if I break her heart.” Jughead asks

“You’re a way more powerful Magician than me, and we both know it.”

“True.” 

“But she’s way more powerful than you, so that should sort itself out.” Archie’s giant stabs Jughead’s elf in the heart. 

At first Jughead just stares at the screen as Archie automatically sets up a rematch. There is something about what Archie said that is bothering Jughead. Not because it’s inherently annoying, frankly the whole conversation is, but because it’s getting at some sort of truth. Then it hits him, the truth comes down to power. 

“Jughead, are you going to play?” Archie asks looking at him pointedly. Jughead just stands up and starts running for the practice room where Betty is spending her time this morning. He runs downstairs, out the front door of the dorms and across the lawn. 

By the time he’s reached the practice rooms, he’s panting. Val and Josie are in the first one and they look really annoyed when he opens the door. The second, third, and fourth ones are all empty. Betty must have left. Jughead wonders where she went. He pulls out his phone and sends her a quick text asking about her whereabouts. 

She texts back, [b]Practice Room 3[/b], and he thinks that can’t be possible. He opens the door, but this time instead of just glancing in, he enters. There’s no sign of Betty at all. Why would she lie to him. But then suddenly, right in front of him, she appears. 

“Holy Fuck” he screams. Betty starts laughing so hard that tears leak out the side of her eyes. 

Finally she pulls herself together and manages a not entirely believable apology “Sorry, I was practicing invisibility. It was nice to test it on someone and make sure it works.”

“That’s all well and good, but next time don’t test it on me.” he says. It’s funny because nothing about Betty screams power. She wears jeans and Keds most of the time she’s not in running gear, and her pastel sweater collection would rival any grandmothers, but he’s never met anyone who can do what she can do. 

When he first met her, he assumed it was a formal magic thing. That any Magician could do what she could do. But that is clearly not the case. He doesn’t know how many of their classmates know that though, because in group scenarios she’s always reticent to use her powers. 

“Why’d you come, Juggie?” She asks. He can’t imagine putting up with anyone else calling him Juggie, but when she calls him that it fills his heart with joy. But he’s glad she reminded him why he’s here.

“I had an idea. Archie was joking about power and who has the most of it, and it got me thinking. It’s possible to syphon magic off people right?”

“Yes. I mean a living magician worth their salt wouldn’t let it happen, but one could syphon it a dead magician, it’s happened before. It’s one of the worst crimes a Magician could commit.”

“What if that’s why the Hedges are being killed? It doesn’t even have to be by a Purist. It could just be someone who wants power desperately.” Jughead says, it makes sense to him. Hedges have always been around and so have Purists, why all of a sudden are the Hedges being killed at such a rate. He thinks they missed something early, and he thinks that thing is power. From the expression on Betty’s face he might be convincing her of that fact. 

“Maybe, I mean there aren’t very many ways to get more power. But out of all of them, murder is the worst but also in some ways the least risky.”

“What do you mean?” Jughead is a little bit confused by this statement.

“I mean drugs can help, but it’s really hard to make sure that your taking ones that can give you actual power, and even then there’s addiction and incorrect dosage. Lots of people have died going that route. And the other way to get power is to convince a god to give it to you, and that is a hell of a bargain.”

Jughead knows this. His dealings had been primarily with Bacchus, and positive for the most part. But he had heard all sorts of horror stories involving rape and sacrifice, sometimes the gods would take over the magicians body, reduce them to little more than a husk. The god’s were fickle, and to them humans were playthings, nothing of consequence in the scheme of time. 

“It would explain why most of the Hedges targeted were powerful ones, but it doesn’t explain why he focused only on Hedges.” Betty says.

“He could be a Purist as well as power hungry, or it could just be the fact that Hedges are less protected, easier to pick off.”

“Maybe. If someone started picking off Magicians, there would be a whole lot more fuss made about it. The Council, as backwards as they are would have probably stopped things by now, if private security didn’t get involved.”

“It makes a whole lot of sense.” Betty said. “I think your right.” 

“Are you going to tell Jason my theory tomorrow.”

“I think I have to.”

**********

A tall, thin red head is waiting for them by the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park. It’s bitterly cold and overcast today, and this part of the park is almost empty. Jughead’s head is still groggy with sleep. Half an hour ago he’d been happy in bed, arms around Betty, and now here he is freezing, tired, and on the fucking upper east side.

Jason’s wearing a dark blue pea coat. He offers up a smile to Betty that verges on warm, but his expression sours when he sees Jughead. “Betty, get rid of him.”

Betty smiles and shakes her head “Jason this is Jughead Jones, he’s helping me. He used to be a Hedge.”

Jason turns towards Jughead. “I don’t trust him. He’s FP Joness’ son,”

“You of all people should know we don’t get to choose our parents.” Betty says sternly. 

“Yeah, but I still wasn’t involved with bringing them to justice. As terrible as they were I couldn’t do that.” Jason says looking away from Jughead at the statue of the mad hatter. 

“Are you implying that FP Jones is the Black Hood?” Betty says. Her default tone of voice has been reduced to a squeak. Jughead doesn’t know how to react. On one hand if FP is indeed a murderer Jughead should be grateful he wasn’t raised by him. On the other hand, he hates the idea that one of his biological parents is a murderer, even if he is for all intents and purposes a complete stranger. 

“Maybe, maybe not. But at the very least he’s working for him in some way. I got a Normal contact to get me access to all the public transit footage in Queens.”

“That was a great idea.” Betty says, with an expression on her face that makes it clear that she wishes she thought of it herself. 

“FP was spotted on CCTV camera’s near five of the crime scenes within an hour of the murders. That’s too many to be a coincidence.” 

Jughead feels like throwing up. His dad may not be a Purist, but he does have an ID card. He could be in this for the power. 

“It’s just circumstantial evidence. We need to follow it where it leads though.” Betty says. “I’m not worried about Jug. He’s committed to the case.”

Jason glanced at Jughead, skeptically. Jughead responds to his unspoken question. “I just met the guy, really. He’s more a sperm donor than anything. I assume that your parents were actually involved in raising you in some way?”

“They were.” Jason says, looking away. “Fine, Betty. I trust you, I might as well trust your boyfriend.”

“Show us the video.” Betty snaps. Jason complies. Jughead watches uneasily as his father walks across subway platform after subway platform. Without the time and location stamps the videos would seem innocuous, but in that context even watching something as simple as FP pacing on a platform, is chilling. 

“We’ve got to talk to him.” Betty says.

“I’ve tried.” Jason says, shaking his head. “We have mutual friends and he’s refused every time. I haven’t even told him why.”

Jughead thinks about the 12 unanswered emails FP has sent him. He’s read them of course. By number 9 FP is coming off as mildly apologetic, but Jughead’s still not ready to have a relationship with him, at least not in the father son context of the word. But he is willing to use his connection to get a lead on the case. He has no issue with that. He knows if he asked FP to meet him anywhere he would come. 

“I can talk to him.” Jughead says, shrugging. It seems like the only way forward. 

Jason still looks a little skeptical, but he nods. “So why did you call me here?”

“Two reasons, first off we think that the Black Hood might be killing Hedges to get their power. So he doesn’t necessarily have a thing against Hedges they’re just more vulnerable than Normals.”

“That makes sense. It works with the FP theory” Jason says. “I hadn’t thought of it though. What’s the second update?”

“We cracked the journal.” Betty says with a smile. 

“What did you find? Can I see it?”

“You can have it.” Betty has already copied the whole thing for their records. “But we need you to tell us about the Red Circle, we already know you were in it.”

Jason’s face flushes. “All the head way we made is in that book.” Jason says with a shake of his head.

“We know every member of the Red Circle is dead but you. Doesn’t that scare you.” Jughead snaps.

Jason shrugs. “I know that too, of course. I’ve been very careful lately. This is the first time I’ve been out all week.”

“I talked to Weatherbee. He authorized me to give you this.” Betty says, passing Jason a coin, it takes Jughead a moment to figure out what it is. A non-permanent ID card. Jason can access any of the Longclaw doors with it.

“I bet he wasn’t happy about that.” Jason smiles, rolling the ID pass between his fingers as if preparing to play a party trick.

“Furious. It’s unprecedented. But I trust you. Please call us if anything happens.”

Jason nods, takes the ID pass, and walks away. 

*********

Jughead’s napping when Betty wakes him with a gentle press of her lips to his cheek. He opens his eyes to find her wearing an ocean blue dress, a lot of eye make-up, and lipstick. Her hair is in waves. She’s gorgeous, but not in the laid back way Betty usually is. He must have a confused expression on his face because she smiles at him softly.

“Veronicas’ party is tonight. Did you forget?”

“Fuck.” Apparently every year Veronica hosts a post-thanksgiving party on the Sunday night before school. Jughead had agreed to go because Betty was, but he’d erased it from his memory immediately after agreeing to go.

“You don’t have to come.” Betty says, but he knows she’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t. 

“I will.” He feels a little embarrassed. “Just judging by how dressed up you are I just don’t have anything to wear.”

Betty laughs. “That’s the great thing about being a guy, wear black jeans, a dark shirt, leather shoes, and you should be good.” He heads to Dilton’s room to change. He still keeps most of his clothes there. Moving them into Betty’s feels too much like officially moving in, even though effectively he’s already done that. 

Half an hour later they’re on a heated rooftop patio in Manhattan drinking cocktails with absurd names. Jughead is in fact underdressed, but not exceptionally so. Archies’ wearing jeans as well, so that’s reassuring.

The setting is opulent. Not only is the view exceptional, but scattered across the roof are various comfortable seating options, three open bars, and a large buffet, that Jughead can’t stop himself from heading straight towards. It doesn’t feel like a graduate school party, it feels like a fantasy wedding reception.

Over half the school is there but even though everyone’s dressed up, the alcohol has made everyone particularly amiable. Betty’s talking to Prof. Harkness about an advanced study he wants her help on when Jughead feels someone tug on his elbow. 

Cheryl Blossom is standing behind him. She has a green cocktail in her hand, and he wonders if she plans to pour it over him, or throw it at him. They haven’t spoken since the coffee incident in the cafeteria. 

His wariness must show on his face because she pours the whole drink down her own throat, makes a slightly disgusted face, and then says “Happy now, Hedge?”

“Not particularly.” Jughead looks around for Betty and sees that she’s gone further afield now and she is talking to two professors, one still being Harkness, presumably about the same project. 

“You saw Jason today. Veronica told me that much. How is he?” That was a lot of information to take in at once, so for a moment Jughead just stares at her. Then he wonders how much he can honestly disclose? The fact that her brother is the only living member of a once substantial group of people, is probably not something any sister wants to hear. 

“He’s ok. A little arrogant, but fine.”

“Anything else?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Jughead asks. 

“He’s not talking to me till I get over our whole parents in prison ordeal.”

“And?” 

Cheryl looks a little shocked that someone is asking this question to her face. Instead of meeting Jughead’s gaze she stares down at her very shiny shoes. “I’m getting there. Jason and Veronica just have to be patient about it.”

What did Veronica have to do with any of this, was the question Jughead wanted to ask, but instead he just nodded. Cheryl strides purposely away from him towards Karen Kim, one of Jughead’s classmates in the history of magic. 

He spends a minute alone on the edges of the party, and he hears a Magician he doesn’t know tell another Magician he shares a class with “Isn’t it incredible that secretly we run all of this. Even the mayor works for us.” 

Jughead understands the power Magicians have a lot more now. It might start with magic for them, but it almost always leads to money. Money is how they cement their power. How Veronica is throwing this lavish party right now, how they own this island more than anyone else. 

It makes him want to gag, the ease of which they interact with this power. Their privilege overwhelms him. He worries that if he stays in this world, with Betty, that their privilege will become his as well. He looks out at the mostly dark park, the skating rink illuminated and glowing like a jewel, and wonders how this won’t happen to him. How he won’t wake up one day and think of Hedges and Normals as pawns and objects.

He doesn’t even realize that Betty’s right beside him, till she slips her arm around his waist. 

“I saw that expression on your face, who pissed you off and why?” She asks, whispering the words into his ears. 

He laughs. She always manages to take the edge off his darker thoughts. “Entitlement.”

“Says the white male?” Betty says with a quirk of an eyebrow. He nods his head to acknowledge the point. There are lots of problems in this world that he doesn’t really understand because of these two factors. There is no getting away from that. 

“The wealth at Longclaw, the privilege, gets to me sometimes. It’s so different than what I grew up with. I’m pretty sure no one else here is missing teeth because of no dental care as a child. I once made one box of Mac and Cheese last three days and yet yesterday at breakfast someone casually informed me that her bag was a bargain at only 10,000 dollars. Karen told me about how she cast a spell on her Metro card so she would never had to pay again like a Normal.”

Betty shakes her head, and pulls away from him slightly, only to grab his hand and lead him further away from the crowd. One section of the roof is twinkle light free, and it hasn’t been outfitted with sofa’s. It just looks like a normal roof, there is no ledge here, the roof just slants slowly down into drain pipe. Betty led him near the edge, before she sits.

“Aren’t you nervous about getting your dress dirty?” Jughead asks as he sits down beside her. 

“It’s survived worse.”. The view here isn’t of the park, but of other buildings, and a tiny peek of the river. Once he sits down she nestles into him a little.

“It’s part of the culture, for sure. This idea that the world owes us, that we can take what we want, control what be want because of magic. As if the title of Magician, and the education we receive justifies that. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t behave that way.” Jughead says pressing a kiss against her forehead.

“It doesn’t change the fact that I grew up going to a hair salon, a dentist office, and restaurants that in no way served fast food - on a regular basis.” The side of her head is pressed into his chest now. “Although even for me Longclaw was somewhat of an adjustment. I didn’t think about that when I dragged you in here.”

Jughead wraps one of his arms around her. He’s looking out at the view. It’s so peaceful here. He can still hear the party going on behind him, but it’s more a murmuring combination of voices, than anything distinct. 

“I love it here, mostly. It just scares me that I could change, become the kind of person who brainwashes a Normal, or hurts Hedges, or takes anything involving money for granted.”

“Me too.” Betty says. Jughead almost laughs at how absurd the idea of Betty hurting anyone who doesn’t desperately deserve it is. But the fear is real for her, he gets that, so he restrains himself. After all she probably thinks that statement is just as absurd coming from him.

“What do you want to do after Longclaw?” Jughead asks her, even though he doesn’t have an answer himself. 

But Betty smiles easily, as if she has known the answer for a longtime. “Do what I’m doing officially. Right now Magical law enforcement is a farce. I want to take it over, clean it up, make sure people are accountable for the crimes they’re committing. The Hedges should be protected to, I would make sure that would happen.” 

It makes sense for her. Hell it might even make sense for him. But he knows that it would be a hard road to go down. The community here is resistant to change, to law enforcement of any kind. He knows she already knows this better than he does so he doesn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the wonderful feedback! I actually slept six hours last night (no, not in a row) and I feel like a whole new person.
> 
> Also in this chapter I briefly name something terrible the gods do, but unlike The Magicians, we are not going there in any way. Full stop.


	9. Merry Fucking Christmas

Betty doesn’t have a key to her own childhood home, which Jughead finds strange. Instead she rings the doorbell like any stranger would. Betty’s parents live in Park Slope, in a large brownstone bordering Prospect Park. 

She has rung the doorbell thrice now, and while they can hear the sound of Christmas music and voices talking, no one has come to answer it yet. 

Jughead’s never met anyone’s parents in the context of being a boyfriend before, so he’s nervous. Even though he hasn’t managed to voice that nervousness to Betty she’d picked up on it. The only Brooklyn ID pass door was not far from here, but she’d spent the whole time talking to him about school related things to keep his mind off of this. 

He can tells she’s nervous too. She hasn’t really complained about her parents directly to him, but she’s made it clear that their relationship is strained. Archie, who has even said nice things about Cheryl, has never uttered a kind word about either of them, and refers to them as Mr. and Mrs. Bitch. 

It’s good that Jughead doesn’t particularly like Christmas because this is shaping up to be a hellish holiday.

The door opens and a blond women with too much make up and a green sweater dress swings the door open. “Betty you’re late!” She says without saying hi, or offering a hug. 

“Hi, Mother!” Betty says in a cheerful voice, before offering a hug. Jughead steps across the threshold behind her even though his presence has yet to be acknowledged. The living room is crowded with men and women Betty’s parents age. They were all wearing tweed, or glasses. 

“What’s going on? I thought it was going to be a quiet Christmas eve.” Betty says. Jughead can see that her eyes are wide in the way they get when she’s upset. This isn’t what either of them were expecting. 

“You mentioned you were bringing a friend, so I thought why not make it the more the merrier!” Betty’s mother finally looks at Jughead, extends her hand and says. “Hi. I’m Mrs. Cooper. You must be Betty’s friend Jughead.” Jughead shakes her hand, which is surprisingly cold given the warmth of the house.

“Boyfriend, mother. I told you that over the phone.” Betty’s expression is full of tension. Her cheeks are sucked in and her lips are pressed out.

“Oh. Yes. Well you both will stay the night and then tomorrow we can really get to know you.” Alice says, turning back towards the living room. Jughead groans internally. They’d planned to butter Betty’s parents up tonight, than interrogate them about the whole purist issue tomorrow morning over breakfast. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen now. 

A middle aged man, with a slight belly comes over towards them, and wraps Betty in a warm hug. “Betty, you’re here!” The man says pulling away. Betty’s expression has relaxed a little. The man turns away from Betty and towards Jughead and says “You must be Jughead. I’m Betty’s father Mr. Cooper.” 

“Hi, Mr. Cooper.” Jughead says, shaking his hand. He thinks it’s strange her parents are introducing themselves by their full names and not their first, but he will go along with it if he has to. “It’s a nice house you have here.” 

Jughead shrugs off his coat, and hangs it up on the coat rack. He takes his shoes off too, because it was snowing out and they’re wet. 

“Sorry, there are so many people here, but Alice really wanted to throw a party for our fellow faculty members tonight. So grab some food and some drinks. Betty you can catch up with old friends, introduce Jughead around.” And with that Betty’s father was off, disappearing up the stairs with both of their bags. 

“Sorry.” Betty whispers to him. He remembers how supportive she was with his father, and he wants desperately to be able to return the favor. He presses a comforting kiss against her lips. They go and grab drinks and then food. After that Betty starts to introduce him to her parents co-workers who crowd the room. 

Betty seems to know everyone by name, even though she never attended St. Georges. Jughead had asked her why she didn’t and all she said was her parents didn’t want her there, which made no sense to him at all. Betty had attended Columbia for undergrad instead. 

Betty introduces him to different people with a varying degrees of warmness. Some of these people she clearly genuinely likes, others not so much. When she introduces him to Professor James Franklin, he can tell right away that she considers him a friend. He’s a short older man, with lively eyes. 

“So who is this?” Prof. Franklin asks, turning towards Jughead.

“I’m Jughead Jones.”

“Jones, you say. Any relationship to F.P. Jones?” 

Jughead never knows how to answer that question politely without feeling gutted, and that was before he found out that his father was a potential serial killer. Saying that he’s FPs estranged son seems far too personal, but just saying that he’s FPs son, feels like a lie. 

“Kind of.” Jughead says.

“You can trust James.” Betty whispers into his ear. “I mean I do.”

“Biologically he’s my father. Realistically he’s a stranger I met a month ago.“

“Ah. I’m sorry to hear that. So your studying at Longclaw also?”

“Yes, I just started at the end of October.”

“That’s a weird time to start.” Prof. Franklin comments.

“I was a Hedge, it’s a long story, but I had no idea about Formal magic till Betty met me and convinced Dean Weatherbee to let me apply.”

“Ah. I was a hedge once too, If you could believe it. Though no one as charming as Betty brought me in from the cold.”

“Really?” Jughead says. He finds this exciting, after all he’s the only former Hedge currently at Longclaw. Outside of his father he doesn’t know another Hedge that has taken this path, yet Prof. Franklin has. Clearly Prof. Franklin has done well for himself. He’s a teacher at St. Georges and respected by Betty. It makes the path Jughead’s on seem more concrete, more real. “Can I ask you a question even though it’s a weird one?” 

“Of course.”

“Did you get rid of your tattoos?” Jughead’s been thinking about this a lot. Most magicians have ID pass tattoos only. Jughead has twenty-two not counting the ID pass. All but one of them, a robin for his mother, were related to being a Hedge. 

He has sixteen that were linked to specific spells and four related to Hedge groups he was formerly associated with. He doesn’t even know why Dean Weatherbee had told him to not tell others he was a Hedge. He stood out on campus like a sore thumb. Even the most hipster Magicians didn’t have tattoos because of they were associated with Hedges. 

It would be easy for Jughead to remove them. He’s looked into it, and he knows exactly what spell he would use. But he feels as if removing them might be fundamentally dishonest. It’s taking a part of his past and erasing it. 

“Nope. I have every single one.” Prof. Franklin says “Although they’re wrinkled and faded now. But who the fuck cares?”

Jughead smiles broadly. “I fucking don’t.

They end up talking to Prof. Franklin, “call me James for hours”. He has all sorts of opinions on what classes Jughead should take next year and what he should read (the magical library at Longclaw is overwhelming to a newbie), and on and on. 

Betty slips in and out of the conversation, talking to other guests, refilling pitchers of water and trays full of canapes. Jughead can see that she’s presenting how her parents like her to appear, soft and polite, demure and quiet. He knows the badass Betty Cooper, but here she’s hidden deep under lip gloss and a shy smile. 

James catches him watching her and leans over closer and says conspiratorially “You’re really lucky, you know?” Both he and James have had six beers now, and he feels like an old friend.

“Oh, I know.”

“She’s the best student I never got the chance to teach.”

“Why not?” Jughead asks. Maybe James will give him a clearer answer to Betty. Maybe she’s too close to the situation to really know.

“Polly went to St. George’s before Longclaw, and Alice claimed that it kind of turned her off formal magic. That’s the reason they told me, but then it could be to avoid the rumors.”

“What rumors?” 

“You know.” James looks at him, as if Jughead should know, but he has no fucking clue. Maybe it’s because his life at Longclaw is so linked to Betty’s but he’s never heard any rumors.

“I really don’t.” He can tell by the look in James eye that he wants to tell Jughead what the rumors are, but he’s conflicted and before Jughead can break through that confliction, Betty’s there at his side, offering them each a seventh beer. Jughead doesn’t get a chance to ask him again. 

***

On Christmas morning Jughead wakes to kisses. They start out on his neck and go all the way down his body, till he’s groggily opening his eyes. He sees Betty, wearing one of his shirts, kissing his knees reverently. 

He knows it’s too soon, he knows he shouldn’t say it, but he doesn’t want to blurt it out for the first time during sex and if he waits any longer he’s going to. “I love you.” 

He’s never really said it before to anyone and it terrifies the hell out of him, but it feels true. She looks up at him, her hair falling gently around her face. She doesn’t seem shocked, or mad, instead she seems content. “I love you too.” 

When they walk down the stairs an hour later for breakfast he knows he should feel tense, after all they have a lot of questions to ask Betty’s parents (and Betty’s parents probably have more than a few for them), but he feels joy and that cliched post-coital glow. Some cliché’s exist for a reason, he’s decided.

He’d much rather be eating French toast at a crappy dinner with Betty, but their here, and they have to be. Even if they didn’t have questions for the Coopers, these are still the parents of women he loves, and they did actually raise her, so they’ll be in his life in some nominal way unless Hal ends up being the Hedge killer, but that would be too fucking convenient.   
Jughead has his arm around Betty’s waist as they enter the kitchen. No one’s there yet, but a pot of coffee is steaming on the table, so her parents are around somewhere. Betty gets out two white mugs and pours them each a cup, before adding a lot of sugar to hers. 

He takes a sip. It’s good coffee. Betty sides one of the wooden chairs over so it’s right next to his and then she sits down. He presses a kiss against her shoulder, she smiles lazily at him. He sets his mug down and kisses her on the mouth. She tastes like sweet coffee. 

“Good morning.” Mrs. Cooper says sharply as she enters the kitchen. “Betty, do you want to help me make the pancakes?” 

“Of course.” Betty says, standing up. Jughead can swear that he sees the tension enter her body, everything about it hums with this intense energy. 

“Can I help?” Jughead asks.

“No, Hal will be down in a minute to keep you company.” Mrs. Cooper says as if he is a child that requires minding.

Jughead stays at the table sipping his coffee, till Mr. Cooper sits down across from him and slides him one half of the New York Times. “Merry Christmas.” He grumbles. Mr. Cooper looks more than a little hung over. 

Soon the kitchen smells like all the best things in the world, which is to say pancakes and bacon. The coffee seems to be helping Mr. Cooper. He looks more alert when he turns towards Jughead and says. “So you’re FP’s son? We aren’t the biggest fans of his.”

Jughead hates that in the Magician world, his identity is completely tied up with FPs. They hadn’t been able to talk to FP since Jason showed them the incriminating video footage. At the time Jughead had assumed it would be easy to see his father in person. After all FP was emailing him almost every day. 

However it turns out that FP was in Europe till January, so while he “desperately wanted to talk” – FP’s words not Jugheads, it wouldn’t happen till January 9th. FP had left north america on the 21st of November, the day after the last Hedge was killed. Now it had been almost a month with no new deaths. 

Jughead thought that was a pretty clear indicator that FP was indeed the killer. Jason who they’d met with again last week was leaning towards FP being the killer as well. Betty was less sure, dismissing it as circumstantial. 

“I’m not the biggest fan of his either. My mother raised me.” Jughead answers, looking away from Mr. Cooper and out the window. It was an actual white Christmas, and the yard was covered with snow.

By the time they actually get down to eating Jughead’s stomach has betrayed him by audibly grumbling. 

There’s another pot of coffee by now, and Jughead’s on his third cup of coffee when he stuffs blueberry pancake in his mouth. It tastes amazing.

“Betty, you made this? It’s great.” Betty nods and squeezes his hand.

“You didn’t know Betty could bake?” Mrs. Cooper says haughtily. 

“I don’t cook on campus, mom. Archie and I don’t even have a kitchen, and the cafeteria staff does a great job.” Betty says with a smile. 

“How is Archie?” Mr. Cooper asks.

“Good.” 

“Why they let him in, I will never know.” Mrs. Cooper says taking a bite of pancake. “Jughead, are you another Magician riding on Betty’s coattails?”

“No, Ma’am.” Jughead says with a wink. Then because he can, he bites his lip and the lights turn off and then on again. It’s a parlor trick, but not an easy one, because it requires so few physical actions, it’s actually hard to pull off. 

“Good.” Hal says with an appreciative nod. “Betty’s probably told you we aren’t a fan of Hedges, but you’re a Magician now, so you are fine in our books.”

This was their opening. It was way sooner than they expected, but they kind of hand to take it. Jughead looks over at Betty who nods her head slightly in agreement. 

“Betty said you were card carrying Purists actually.” Jughead says. An uncomfortable silence descends on the room and Jughead puts all his energy into eating for a few minutes. At least the food is good. 

“There are no cards involved.” Mr. Cooper says. “But yes we are part of the Society for the Protection of Magical Arts. Or rather we were. We parted ways with them earlier this year.”

“How do you feel about your daughter hunting the serial killer targeting Hedges?” Jughead says before taking a particularly large bite. 

“Betty, I thought you learned your lesson last time? You should leave law enforcement to the professionals.” Mrs. Cooper says a look of disapproval crossing her perfectly groomed face. 

“If I left it up to professionals last time the Blossoms would still be free.” Betty says. “Why did you leave the Society of the Protection of Magical Arts?” Both Cooper parents looked extremely uncomfortable at that question. 

“We heard rumors that some of the members might have been involved in the killings.” Mr. Cooper says.

“Dad!” Betty exclaims loudly.

“They were just rumors, and it wasn’t about the serial killer himself being a member but someone who was taking advantage of the situation to kill a few Hedges without being spotted.” Mrs. Cooper says. 

“That is serious still. What member?”

“It’s just rumors, Elizabeth. I’ve already told you all we know.” Mrs. Cooper says, shaking her head “We left because of the rumors. It’s one thing to be opposed to Hedges, it’s another thing to kill them.”

“Did other members leave over this?” Jughead asks. 

“A few. Veronica’s father among them, though that could be because he has so much on his plate now that he bought Longclaw.” Mr. Cooper says it casually, but Mrs. Cooper shoots him a look which makes it plainly clear that he disclosed too much. 

“Fuck.” Jughead says and Mrs. Cooper sends him a nasty look.

“Hiram bought Longclaw?” Betty says, her eyes are glowing with anger, and when Jughead attempts to calm her down by placing his hand on her thigh, she swats it away. 

“He did. But it’s not public knowledge Elizabeth. So please keep it to yourself.”

“The dean allowed it to happen?” Betty says. Jughead knows how much she trusts Weatherbee, this must really feel like a betrayal. 

“He didn’t have a choice. The board of trustees forced his hand.” Mrs. Cooper says smugly. 

To Jughead it didn’t make any sense to buy something that was essentially a non-profit. Longclaw was entirely funded by alumni donations. It wasn’t like Hiram could start charging tuition.

“Why would Hiram do that? It’s not like the school makes money.” Betty says skeptically. 

“I have no idea how his mind works, Elizabeth. I am surprised Veronica didn’t tell you though.” Mrs. Cooper says. "Can you pass the butter Jug-head?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth on the I love you exchange. I hadn’t planned it till later on, but this Jughead was not happy about that, and forced my hand, so… 
> 
> The mystery is building. Next chapter there will be an attempt on someone’s life. I’m grateful for all the comments.


	10. Of Guns and Magic

The first day back after Christmas break is a huge step in the right direction. Outside of the History of Magicians, Jughead is in all new classes. Every single one of them is more challenging than the ones he was in before. He’s actually learning things in the classroom now, instead of exclusively outside of it.

Veronica is in three of his classes, Cheryl is in two, and Archie and he are only overlapping in The History of Magicians. Jughead is surprised to find that he still isn’t sharing any classes with Betty, till he asks her about it and she just shrugs and says “I mostly just do independent studies.”

With that she gives him a kiss, and heads off on one of her mysterious one on one sessions, and he’s left alone with Veronica. 

When Veronica first returned from Christmas in St. Bart’s they had asked her about Hiram Lodge owning Longclaw. The look on her face made it clear she was as shocked as they were. She’d asked her father about it, and he said it was merely a charitable purchase, a way of ensuring the stability of the school. 

Jughead’s halfway through his second burger and Veronica is picking at her salad. She seems a little sad. Jughead still doesn’t know her that well, but what he does know he’s grown to like. He hasn’t seen her at Archie and Betty’s room much since break ended. He wonders if the sadness is related to that. 

“What’s going on with you and Archie?” Jughead asks.

Veronica looks over at him, dark eyes flashing. “Same old, same old. We’ve just been in my room more lately. I think you and B’s couple-ness gets to him sometimes.”

Jughead feels a little bad about that. It’s not like he feels comfortable enough to sleep in his own assigned dorm with Dilton, and while Archie was fine with Jughead sleeping on the couch, he’s made his opinion pretty clear that he had only signed up to live with Betty since Jughead has started staying in her bedroom. 

That said, all three of them are all on good terms, and still spend most of their free time together. So Archie can’t be too upset about third wheeling it. 

“Sorry about that.” Jughead’s pretty sure he’s blushing when he says that, but he tries not to think too much of that. 

“It’s not your fault. Archie just got a little spoiled by single Betty. Besides he likes you, I think it’s more jealousy. He wishes he could have a relationship like you do. Hell, so do I.” Veronica looks at her salad when she says that as if the arugula had suddenly became fascinating. 

“Why can’t you.” Jughead blurts out. “I mean together?” 

Veronica shakes her head. “I decided a long time ago that a relationship, a real healthy relationship requires three components, all of equal importance. One is enjoyment of the person as a friend. That Archie and I have. Another is physical attraction, which again, is not an issue. The third component is that hard to describe emotional attraction, the one that can be boiled down to love. That Archie and I do not have. You and Betty have that in spades.”

“So that’s why and you and Archie just have fun?” Jughead says. 

“Yes. I’ve had the other, or almost had the other, and this just isn’t it. But I’m not exactly ready to move into a convent or anything.”

“What do you mean, almost had it? With who?” 

Veronica doesn’t reply, instead she sends a very pointed look in Cheryl Blossom’s direction. Cheryl is too busy talking to her minions to notice. 

“No fucking way.”

“Yes. But then Betty caught her parents and Cheryl became kind of a psycho.” Veronica shrugs. At that moment something clicks into place in Jughead’s brain. The night of the party Cheryl had mentioned needing to make things better with Veronica. It didn’t make sense to Jughead at the time but now he realizes it was about their relationship. 

He feels conflicted. Should he tell V? Surely he doesn’t owe any loyalty to Cheryl. But before he can say anything, Betty comes running up behind Veronica, shouting “We’ve got to go now.”

At first he’s not sure if Betty’s talking to him or to V, but when Betty grabs his hand and starts pulling him towards the quad it’s clear. 

“What’s going on?” Jughead asks, as he runs beside her, already a little out of breath. 

“You remember Jason’s safe house?” They had met Jason there last week, it was on the upper east side in the same building as one of the ID pass doors for easy access to or from Longclaw in case of emergency.

The safe house, or rather apartment, is ordinary, large for Manhattan, but small for most other cities. It’s a one bedroom that looks like it should belong to an old lady and not a Hedge of Jason’s standing. 

“Yeah.” Jughead says, wondering how this is relevant. 

“I set up a tripwire last time we were there, to see if I could catch any unwanted guests.”

“and?” Jughead’s curious now. It’s also getting hard to talk with all the running, but they’ll be able to use their ID passes any second now.

“It was tripped. Why else would we be mad dashing for Manhattan?” She says as she opens one of the doors on the lawn. She’s not breathing heavily. She runs every damn day, for fun. Something Jughead would never ever understand. 

They make it through the door and then they were on the upper east side, outside of the building they want to get into. 

“Do you have a key?” Jughead asks. Betty shakes her head and presses the palm of her hand against the lock. The door swings open. 

They run through and Betty leads the way up the stairs. It’s a good thing Jason’s only one floor up because Jughead is beyond winded at that point. Betty does the trick on the apartment door but this time she slowly opens it herself. 

Jughead’s not sure what to expect. He looks around the room for a second to get his baring. Nothing is out of place. Jason is nowhere to be seen. Then a second later a man stands up from behind the chair with a gun in his hand. 

He’s shocked by the presence of the gun. It seems so Normal in a world of magic. The man is no one Jughead recognizes. He is tall and thin with an angular face. Jughead goes to stand in front of Betty, to shield her from the man with the gun, but the man fires too quickly. Two bullets are stopped in midair, where they hang shimmering and Jughead suddenly feels like he’s on the set of the Matrix. 

Jughead’s not stopping the bullets so Betty must be. The man looks shocked but then before they can do anything he turns away from them and jumps out the window behind him. Jughead rushes to the windowsill and when he looks down the man is already up and running to away. 

“Do you think we can catch him?” Jughead asks.

“No. We should check for Jason.” Jughead follows Betty into the bedroom which is also empty. Jason is nowhere to be found. Betty calls him twice, but there is no answer.

“What should we do?” The man who attacked them would not have been waiting around if he had already killed Jason, so Jason has to be safe, right? Although Betty is clearly worried that he’s not because she’s pacing the floor. 

“Wait.” She says with a shrug. She sits down on the edge of the sofa. Jughead notices that her hands are trembling, her face tinged green. She looks ill.

“Are you ok?”

“If I use a lot of power at once, it affects me. That’s all.”

Jughead throws an arm around Betty’s shoulder and pulls her closer. He can feel her whole body tremble against his, and it scares him a little, but Betty doesn’t seem nervous, so he’s following her lead. “What you did with the bullets was fucking impressive. Could you teach me?”

He’s not sure he has enough power to actually pull off a trick like that, but he might as well ask. It’s the one thing that makes him feel uneven with Betty. He knows he’s powerful. He’s among the best students at Longclaw, but Betty is in a whole other league. 

Archie jokes about it sometimes, and Veronica seems a little envious but he gets the impression that most of the other students don’t have a clue how powerful she is. She doesn’t use her powers casually the way Veronica sometimes snaps her fingers to put sugar in her coffee. Betty is discreet about it. 

He’s pretty sure he’s seen her do things no one else besides the Prof’s know that she can do. He used to think it was in his reach, but now that he’s in the more advanced classes, he realizes that is not the case.

Jughead’s not jealous of her powers in any way, but he sometimes wonders if how he can adequately support her with what he has. Will he hold her back in the long term because of his limits? Sometimes it’s almost enough for him to try and seek more, just so he can support her. The temptation is definitely there. 

“Maybe someday.”

They end up waiting for Jason an hour, though it feels like much longer than that. Finally Jason opens the door holding a cup of to-go coffee from Dean & Deluca’s. He is so surprised by their presence, he almost drops his cup.

“What the hell are you doing here?” 

Jughead fights the urge to say saving your life. Instead he just swallows it. 

“Someone broke in. They tripped the silent alarm. It’s a good thing you were not home.” Betty says.

“Fuck.” Jason says, taking off his shoes. “That’s not the news I wanted to hear. I gather you set up this alarm without my permission?”

Betty shrugs. “I was hoping it would never be tripped and you would never need to know. When we got here the intruder was still here with a gun.”

“A gun? Was he a Magician?” Jason asks. He doesn’t seem to shocked or upset about the alarm being set without his knowledge. Which is not that surprising given the context.

“He must have been, he jumped clear through the glass of the window.” Jughead says with a shrug.

“So why a gun? The other Hedges weren’t killed by one.” Jason says, sitting down across from them and taking a sip of is coffee. 

“The rumors of your power must proceed you. He probably thought he needed to be armed in more ways than one. You would be safer at Longclaw.”

“Hell no.” Jason says. “They didn’t want me 5 years ago, I don’t want them now.” Jughead stops himself from pointing out that this safe house and the ID pass were both provided for by Longclaw. 

“I just wish we got a photo of the intruder.” Betty says with a sigh. “But I will find an artist to draw who we saw, so you can see what he looks like. Just in case you’ve seen him before.”

They end up moving Jason to another safe house, this time Betty sets up the alarm system in full view of both of them. 

By the time they arrive back on campus, Jughead has misses two classes and is completely exhausted. So they head straight back to their room. 

They open the door to reveal Archie throwing back a shot of some clear liquid. Archie turns towards them “Where were you guys all day?”

“Mystery mission.” Jughead says with a shrug. “Need to know. Did anything exciting happen here?” 

“Veronica called things off.” Archie’s wobbling a little. His speech is slurred. The shot they saw him take was definitely not his first or second one.

“What?” Betty says.

“I mean I asked for something more serious with her. Commitment, really. Not forever but you know not the sort of open relationship we have. I guess I forced her hand, and she said she was over hooking up for now.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Jughead had a feeling that the conversation he had had with Veronica earlier today could not have had worse timing. Betty went over to Archie and gave him a hug. Jughead feels too guilty to move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments! I always appreciate them. 
> 
> The next chapter features the return of FP Jones, and an unexpected complication.


	11. Heat of the Night

Jughead is struggling to sleep. It’s the night before he’s supposed to get coffee with FP, who landed in the states yesterday.

After the attempt on Jason’s life Betty figured out that FP was still in Europe. They even tracked down video proof of a lecture he’d given in France that very day. The assailant in Jason’s apartment could be an underling or a copy-cat. But if that was the case why had there been no new murders the whole time FP was away?

Even if FP wasn’t the perpetrator he was involved with this mess in some way. Jughead rolls over and stares at the ceiling. Even if Jughead was 100% sure that his father wasn’t a serial killer or a serial killer’s henchman, he’d still be nervous about tomorrow, because FP’s both his dad and a fucking stranger. 

Jughead can’t imagine how different his childhood would have been like if FP hadn’t left. Just from a magic stand point, Jughead would have grown up feeling less isolated, less insane. It would have made such a difference to have someone to talk about magic with, someone to learn about magic from.

Betty stirs slightly in bed next to Jughead. She's facing away from him, but even the sight of her loose curls on the pillow fills him with love. She's turning him into a fucking sap, and he doesn't even care. 

Jughead wonders if he should spoon her, maybe it would help him calm down? But he’s worried he’d fidget so much that he’d wake her up. He doesn’t want to do that. She needs sleep. It’s been a long couple days since the attempt on Jason’s life. They has spent a lot of time in the office trying to make headway on the case but mostly chasing their own tails.

Jughead stares up at the ceiling as if it will reveal some sort of great truth about how one should talk to an estranged father who is also a prime suspect in an ongoing murder investigation. He swallows a big gulp of air and decides that he might as well spoon Betty. If he’s going to be mentally torturing himself all night he might as well be cozy doing it.

His body turns to spoon hers, his arm reaching over her arm. Oww. He pulls it away and sits up in shock. 

It felt like he touched a paper cup full of hot coffee. But maybe that’s just because he didn’t expect her to feel that way. How could anyone possibly get that hot?

He places his fingertips gently against her arm this time, and it is not as shocking, but she is still far hotter than she should be, than anyone should be. 

“Betty?” He says loudly. She doesn’t respond to his words. The word fuck runs through his head in a constant stream. “Betty wake up.” He screams. Nothing happens. 

She’s alive. He can hear her breathing. He wonders how long she’s been like this, in the very same bed as him and he hasn’t even noticed. He lifts her body up and pushes the door open with his leg as he carries her to the bathroom. 

He turns the shower on cold and places her in there, clothes and all. She twitches for a second when the water first hits her body, then nothing. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck is still running though his head like a messed up mantra. He must be saying it out loud also because Archie bursts out of his room wearing only boxers, a dazed expression on his face.

“What the hell is going on?” Archie asks. The bathroom door is open, Jug is half in and half out of the shower and Betty is soaking wet. Her pajamas are stuck to her skin. 

“Something’s wrong with Betty. She won’t wake up. She’s burning up. I should call 911” Jughead says. He should have done that right away. How could he be so foolish to think that he could solve this by himself.

Archie rushes past him, turns off the shower and then feels Betty’s forehead “Fuck.” 

“I know.” Jughead says, running back into Betty’s room to try and find his cellphone. They need help.

“We need to get Weatherbee” Archie says, almost confidently. 

“Weatherbee?” Jughead asks, not following his logic. 

“This happened before. When she was at Columbia. I called 911, we ended up at Mount Sinai but they couldn’t do anything and then Bettys’ parents called Weatherbee. He’s the one that ended up healing her. Whatever is wrong with her is probably more magical than medical.”

“Do you have his phone number?” Jughead asks.

“No. But I know where he lives, we will just have to take Betty there.”

Archie picks up Betty and drapes her over one shoulder, the way firemen haul people from burning buildings. Archie sets a fast pace for the library, and is soon knocking on a side door Jughead has never noticed before. It’s small enough to be discrete in comparison to the big double doors that are the entrance to the library as a whole. 

A light turns on inside and the door swings open, revealing Weatherbee in a purple housecoat. “What is happening?”

“There’s something wrong with Betty. She’s burning up, she’s unconscious.” Jughead says as Archie pushes past Weatherbee and lays her down on the couch. 

Weatherbee is by her side in a moment. First he leans over and checks her forehead and then he crosses the room, open a drawer, and removes a small orange and black object. He comes shuffling back and places it on Betty’s chest. 

Jughead sees that it’s a monarch butterfly when its wings unfurl and it takes hesitant temporary flight before descending suddenly. It lands on her forehead. Its body a stark contrast against her flush skin.

“How much power has she been using?” Weatherbee asks Jughead. 

“I don’t know. It’s hard to gauge.” Jughead says with a shrug. “After we stopped Jason from being killed, she was shaking a little, I think from overuse of power, but that was three days ago now.” He doesn’t know what this has to do with anything, he’s never heard of anyone using so much power that they made themselves sick. 

“What did she do today?” Weatherbee asks.

“Classes kept her pretty busy, and we are not in the same ones. I know she spent most of the evening in the library. I didn’t see her cast any spell today, big or small.” Jughead says with a shrug. He really wishes he could be more help on this one. 

“Ok. I can handle things from here.” Weatherbee says. His tone is confident. Jughead likes that. Though still it is so hard seeing Betty helpless on that couch. He doesn’t want to leave. It is his heart on that sofa, and he has no way of protecting her.

“Can I stay? I will be out of your way.” Jughead asks, even though he knows the answer.

“Absolutely not.” Weatherbee says with a dismissive shake of his head. “I will call you in the morning.” And with that Wetherbee places a hand on both Archie and Jughead’s back, and steers them out. 

“Is this what it was like last time?” Jughead asks.

“Pretty much.” Archie says with a sigh as they start to walk back towards the dorm. “Although I’m less nervous this time.”

“Did Weatherbee tell you what caused it last time?”

“Hell, no. Though he asked me the same sort of questions he asked you, so I guess it has something to do with how powerful Betty is.”

Jughead was not expecting to hear the statement made so bluntly. But he gets it. He worries all the time about not having enough power because of her. Still he doesn’t know what to do about that. Clearly if Weatherbee is able to help Betty her level of power is not unprecedented, his must at the very least be equal to hers. 

Jughead does not sleep well after that. Instead he spends most of the night either lying in bed or pacing. Archie seems restless as well, but neither of them are talkative. 

As soon as the clock strikes seven, Jughead goes and eats a big breakfast in the dining hall, then heads straight for Weatherbee’s place and knocks on the door. 

The door swings open and Weatherbee steps out, instead of allowing Jughead in. “Betty is resting, but she’s stable. She should be fine by tonight.” Weatherbee looks exhausted and his arms are shaking a little. Jughead had never seen anyone tremble from magical over-exertion till he saw Betty tremble the day they saved Jason, but now Weatherbee seems to be doing it too.

“Can I see her?” Jughead asks.

“No, but I wanted to ask you how the case is going.”

“Fine.” Jughead said. He couldn’t give two shits about the case right now. 

“FP’s back in the states, correct?” Weatherbee asks.

“Yes. I was supposed to see him in an hour, but I’m going to cancel.”

Weatherbee looked at Jughead like he was crazy. “The hell you are. Your father is still a suspect. Besides it is not like you can help Betty here.”

Jughead can tell how mad Weatherbee is just by his tone of voice. The stubborn contrarian part of Jughead wants to tell Weatherbee to go fuck himself, but the rational adult part of him knows that the right thing to do here, the only thing to do here, is to comply. So he does.

He doesn’t say anything though, he just turns around and leaves. He takes one of the ID pass doors into lower Manhattan and walks around nervously till it’s time to meet his father.

They are supposed to meet at Konditori. When Jughead arrives there, before FP it becomes clear that the café is too small and busy for them to talk. This is good in a way. There will be less of a chance of them being overheard if they walk and talk.

So Jughead goes in, orders two americanos to-go, and then goes outside to stand. It’s a cold day, but sunny and not too bitter. It’s the kind of January day that gives the false impression that winter won’t be so bad this year. He’s standing there, trying not to worry about Betty too much when FP turns the corner and waves at him. 

Jughead will never not be shocked by how much his father looks like him. Still he manages to wave back. They don’t hug or even shake hands, instead Jughead hands him his coffee “Do you take it black?”

FP nods. “How was Christmas? Did you spend it with your girl?”

“Yup. Met her folks. It was pretty good.” Jughead says. “How was Europe?”

“The coffee was terrible, but the people were good.” FP says. “I mean I know lots of people love Europe, but for me this is home.”

Jughead has long dreamed of going to Europe and he can’t imagine dismissing an entire continent so casually, but he has come here for much more serious issues.

“Are you OK with walking around? It is packed in there.”

“Sure.” FP says with a shrug. 

They set off at a fair pace, walking through the lower east side. Both of them seem reluctant to start a conversation, but Jughead has a goal. He can’t put it off forever. He just doesn’t know exactly how to broach the subject. 

Jughead doesn’t know how FP is going to react. Is he going to get violent? If FP is the Black Hood he’s certainly capable of violence, but Jughead has the possibly naïve hope that his father no matter how distant or bad at fatherhood he is, would not seriously hurt his son. 

“Do you know Jason Blossom?” Jughead knows the answer to this question, but he figures it is as good an on ramp as any.

“Only by reputation. Great hedge witch, bit of a druggy. Why?”

“Jason’s been helping Betty and I investigate the serial killer whose been targeting hedge witches, we’re calling him the Black Hood.” 

Besides him, FP stopped dead in his tracks. He turns to Jughead his eyes clear and piercing. “Is that a normal grad school activity, investigating mysteries?”

“For Betty it is.” Jughead says with a shrug. They’re still not moving, people are having to walk around them on the sidewalk. 

“So your girlfriend dragged you into the investigation?” FP asks, an eyebrow raised.

“I joined the investigation first. But it’s a long story and not what I want to talk about.” Jughead says. “Jason showed us footage of you around the several of the crime scenes right after they occurred. Too many to be a coincidence, or happenstance.”

“Fuck.” FP says and Jughead is struck by how FP says it the same way he does. FP shakes his head “We should walk again, less chance of being overheard.”

Jughead nods his agreement. “I’m not letting you change the topic though.”

“I figured as much. I guess this is why you even agreed to meet up with me.” FP says.

“Pretty much.” 

“I can’t explain why I was near the crime scenes, but I didn’t do it.” FP says. “You have to know that. I’ve done plenty of shitty things in my life, but murdering someone is not one of them.”

“That doesn’t help me.” Jughead says, he feels a little angry. ”You’re on CCTV footage all over this city at the wrong time and you just want me to shrug my shoulders, and believe you based on your fucking word? This is serious stuff. Hedges are dying. They were your people once too.”

“Not for a long time. Besides no one has died in almost a month.” FP says. Jughead already knows this but most people they don’t. It’s not like there is some Magician wide news service. Information about the Black Hood isn’t something that’s common knowledge. 

“How do you know that?” Jughead says, eyes flashing. “And yes we were aware that you were in Europe that whole time.”

FP keeps walking but he shakes his head. “I know more about this than I should. You figured that much out. Look, I’m not going to tell you what I did after the murders, but a few years ago I did something to piss someone very powerful off, and now he’s blackmailing me.”

“What?” Jughead’s having a hard time parsing all that information. It’s a lot to take in all at once. Does this mean that FP is working for the Black Hood?

“I didn’t kill anyone, I swear. But I helped with the cover up.” 

“That’s better than committing the crime.” Jughead says. He can’t help it. He feels some relief in knowing that his father wasn’t directly involved. 

“I can still go to prison for this Jughead.” FP says shaking his head. 

“I was more concerned with the morality of all this, but why are you even worried about that. Confess who the Black Hood is and I’m sure that information can be traded for some sort of get out jail free card.” Jughead says. It’s probably not actually that simple, Jughead’s grasp of magical law is tenuous at best, but it’s probably not too far off.

“It’s not that fucking simple.” FP growls as they cross the street. 

“Why not?”

“Because of what they have on me. My reputation could be destroyed.” 

Jughead could care less about FP’s reputation at this point, but he gets that it means something to FP. Being the bad boy of magic does something for him. It’s part of his fundamental identity at this point. Still in the whole scheme of things, it seems pretty darn minor. 

“It might well be anyways.”

“I know.” FP says, quietly. “You know your girlfriend has a reputation.” Jughead is frustrated, why is everyone so obsessed with Betty’s reputation. It is like they think they know something about Betty that he doesn’t, the idiots. Or maybe it just has to do with how powerful she is. Power like that causes jealousy.

“For taking down the Blossoms?” Jughead asks. He’s trying not to think about Betty too much. If Weatherbee told him she’s ok, she’s ok. That is the mantra going through his head right now anyways, over and over again. In any case this conversation should be over soon and he can be back on campus just as soon as he finds an ID pass door. 

“No.” FP pauses and looks Jughead straight in the eyes. “Wait, is everything OK? Did you break up? You just don’t look happy.”

Jughead sighs. This is not the kind of conversation he wants to have with FP in any way. “Betty and I are good. Betty’s just sick.”

“Sick?”

“Fever.” Jughead says, leaving out the words magical and impossibly high. 

“Oh.”

“Is there anything else I should know about what your involved in?”

“Just that it’s dangerous and you should keep the hell out, boy. People are being killed.”

“You don’t think I already know that?” Jughead asks, and FP actually laughs.

“I guess you do.”

“Did you hear about the attempt on Jason’s life?” Jughead asks. A look of surprise crosses FP’s face.

“No! When?” 

“Four days ago.”

“The timeline must be moving up.” FP murmurs this under his breath, it’s clear that Jughead isn’t supposed to hear this, but he does.

“What timeline?” Jughead says. FP shakes his head. “What fucking timeline?” Jughead repeats. 

“I don’t know much, my part in this is over. But I do know that this, all of this, is nearly over.”

As far as Jughead knows serial killers don’t have master plans or timelines. This sounds more like an evil scheme, or a power struggle involving a whole lot of dead bodies, than a serial killer that is anti-hedge. 

“What is almost over?” Jughead asks.

FP shakes his head “I’ve already said too much. I’ve got to go now. Next time you want to talk about our actual relationship and not whatever crime you and Betty are investigating, you know how to get in touch.”

Jughead nods. He doesn’t like this, he still has unanswered questions, but FP has made it clear that those questions will stay that way. There’s nothing more he can do it at this point but head home and check on Betty. 

FP’s already walking away without saying goodbye. Jughead takes off in a run towards the nearest ID Pass door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter involves an important bughead conversation as well as a major arrest. 
> 
> I am super grateful for comments. They keep me sane (particularly after terrible weeks like last one). Please comment!


	12. Father Issues (Part I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every single scene in this chapter has both Betty and Jughead in it. A big mystery is revealed (hopefully to everyone’s satisfaction).

Betty wakes up in her dorm room. This in and of itself is not odd, this is her default bed, and given her boyfriend’s unfortunate roommate it seems unlikely that this will change anytime soon. 

But it clearly isn’t morning. The light filtering in through the windows behind the bed has the distinct glow of winter afternoon sun. Betty never sleeps in. She’s been up most mornings lately before the sun, in order to run in the dark. 

She looks over to Jughead’s spot in the bed but he isn’t there. He never wakes before her, so this is unprecedented. She sits up and her whole body aches with the action. She spot’s Jughead in the corner, his sleeping body sprawled haphazardly over an arm chair. 

The pieces are starting to come together, some fragmented memories of the night before slide back into her mind. This is what it must feel like to wake up from a long hard night of drinking. 

She must have over exerted herself in terms of magic. It was inevitable in a way. She’s been flirting with using too much power for the last month or so. The spells she has wanted to cast, have required more and more. 

Betty’s gone cold turkey on using unnecessary spells in her day to day life. She no longer summons her book from her desk to the bed, or brews coffee using magic. She is conserving everything for the case. 

Jughead has helped. He has power, but a lot of the real spells she’s been casting, like the one she cast yesterday, a seeker that went all over the city in search of the thin man that had attempted to kill Jason, she hasn’t even told him about. 

The spell has been successful to a point though, it had revealed that the thin man was staying in upper Manhattan, not far from Columbia. Although that in itself had not helped Betty much. It certainly had not been worth the risk, it turns out. 

She remembers now, seeing Weatherbee this morning, Feeling his thin, strong hands against her shoulders as he drew the fever out of her, and into himself. This is the fourth time he has saved her life. 

Jughead stirs in his sleep and she finds herself staring at him, his long dark hair covering his forehead. She loves how his face looks when he’s sleeping. All vulnerable and young. The way he often is when he is alone with her. 

She knows he’s not like this with others. Archie and he are good, and he’s warming up to Veronica, but most of the other students at Longclaw he refuses to exchange pleasantries with.

Jughead’s eyes open and she can see worry in the deep blue of them. “Are you ok?” He asks, his voice still stiff with sleep. She knows she has to tell him now, which probably means she should have told him before now. 

It will feel good to get this off her chest, she tries to convince herself. It means she would never have to hide from him the library to cast a spell. It meant he would probably never send her a strange look when she used her powers to do something particularly impressive. 

Although he could react badly. He could feel fundamentally betrayed by the secret she was about to tell. But the thing is it has never really felt like her secret to tell, because she had inherited it from her parents. 

Betty couldn’t help but hope that he wouldn’t leave her over this. He loved her, she knew that. It was more than him just saying the words, she felt it in a bone deep way. Still the amount of power she had would scare (had scared) most men off. Still he already knew most of that, and he was still here. He’d gotten up from his chair, and he’d moved to the side of her bed, a glass of water in his hand.

“Are you ok?” He repeats the question and only than does Betty realize she didn’t answer it the first time. 

“I am.” Her voice croaks a little. He hands her the glass of water and she drinks it till it is all gone. 

Archie enters from the living room, he must have heard them talking. Archie is the only person outside her parents who knows. And if her parents knew he knew, well it wouldn’t be good. But there was no helping that. It was part of why he was her roommate and not Veronica. He alone knew what do in a pinch, although after today that would no longer be the case. 

Archie leans over Jughead to give Betty a hug. “I love you.”

“Hey, I’m right here.” Jughead jokes. 

“Not like that, you idiot.” Archie pats Jughead’s head in jest. “Do you guys need me to go get food from the cafeteria and bring it back?” 

“That would be great, Arch.” Betty says. 

“Good, it will also give you some time to talk.” Archie says, a nervous grin on his face. Archie had wanted this conversation to happen for the last month. He hated knowing something about Betty that Jughead didn’t. 

Even if Betty hadn’t gotten so sick Archie probably would have forced this to happen sooner or later. Jughead’s eyes show surprise, and something else, yearning maybe? Betty is not sure. Archie leaves though the door closing softly behind him. 

Betty pats the mattress besides her and scoots over, and Jughead moves his legs onto the bed and scoots in close beside her, his arm looping over her shoulder. 

* * * 

Betty rests her head on Jughead’s shoulder. He loves feeling the weight of it there. He feels a weird mix of emotions. He’s so grateful she’s ok, she’s healthy and able to sit up in bed. But he’s also curious about what she has to tell him. He’s also curious as to why she didn’t tell him earlier. 

He’s also, if he’s being totally honest a little angry that Archie knows what is going on and he’s the one in the fucking dark (where is the fairness in that?). Why did she not tell him? Did she not trust him. 

Still they’re sitting in silence, he’s trying to be patient. 

“Sorry, I’m trying to find the right words to say this. I don’t talk about it much. Only Archie knows outside of my family.”

Jughead’s confused by that statement. Why would Betty have told her family about whatever this is? She barely talks to them about anything, why would they know this? 

“This isn’t really my secret.” Betty takes a breath. “It was my parents and it became mine.”

“Like an inheritance?” He’s a little confused. Betty laughs.

“Sort of. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier, it’s just a lot to explain. If you want to leave me after knowing this, I understand.” 

Jughead grips Betty’s shoulder. “Nothing you could tell me would cause me to do that.” Jughead says. “I love you. You’re the only person I’ve ever even said those three words to that wasn’t my mother.”

“That just makes me wish you had more love in your life.” Betty says burying her face in his shoulder.

“I probably could say it to Archie now, but he really doesn’t need an inflated ego.” Jughead says with a grin. 

“I don’t even really know where to begin.” Betty says, shaking her head. Jughead stopped himself from saying the beginning. Instead he just stayed still and quiet beside her, listening. 

“If you had grown up in a Magician family as part of the Magician culture, you would probably would have figured it out already. I mean I’ve done things in front of you, with you that normal Magicians could not.”

“I know.” Jughead says, nodding. “I mean I didn’t at first, I just thought I had to work towards those things. But now I know things like vanishing aren’t ever going to be an option for me. And the floating during sex, that’s all you right?”

Betty shakes her head “No, it never happened with Trev. I didn’t lie to you. You have a lot of magic. More than most Magicians. I hope you know that.”

Jughead nods. He’s spent enough time at Longclaw observing others to know that now. Still the amount of Betty’s power can’t be a secret. Lots of people seem to know something about that, even his father seemed to know something about it. So what was the secret exactly?

“You know how my older brother Chic, didn’t really have power?” Jughead nods. He wonders where she could possibly be going with this. “It was evident right from the start. By the time he was five my parents were sure he would never amount to anything. That is why they had Polly.”

“Ok, but Polly’s a Magician right?” 

“Yes, I mean mostly, she dropped out but she has powers. But they’re not significant. She could never teach at St. Georges. She could never become a serious Magician and that was ultimately my parents primary goal when it came to procreation.”

“Ok.” Jughead is still not sure where this is going but he has a feeling it’s not going anywhere good. 

“So before they tried to have their third child, my mother and father started talking to gods. They would ask any god that would give them the time of day for help.” Oh fuck, Jughead did not like where he thought this was going, but it was going there fast. 

“Finally a god, not one you probably even know of, his name is Gwyddion, said yes he would help.”

Jughead tries to pull up anything from his mental vault for the name Gwyddion, but he was pulling a blank. The name sounded Celtic though. “What kind of god was he?”

Betty pulls a face “A trickster god.”

This time Jughead allows himself to say it out loud “Fuck.”

Betty laughs “That is exactly what he and my mom did. And it was consensual, so that’s something. But of course Gryddion told my dad and my mom that biologically their child would be half of each other. He said he just needed to have sex with my mom in order for the child to absorb some of his powers.”

“And they bought that bullshit?” 

“Trickster gods can be very convincing.” Betty says. Jughead tries to get a read on her emotions, but there all over the place. He can feel relief coming off her but also stress. 

“I’m still here. I’m not judging you. How could I?” Jughead presses a kiss against her forehead. 

“My parents got a lot more than they bargained for. They knew right away. I was floating within days of my birth. They couldn’t leave the house with me for the first two years of my life just in case I showed my powers by accident.”

“You’re a demi-god.” Jughead exhales. 

“Indeed.”

“I guess that means both of us grew up not knowing our fathers.” 

Betty nods. “I’ve never even met mine. My mom tried to track him down to scream at him after my birth, but trickster gods are pretty good at hiding if they want to.”

“Wait you said you’d only told Archie about this, but Weatherbee clearly knows too.”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell him. Weatherbee and I are two of a kind. We recognized that same spark in each other without having to talk about it.”

“Shit, who is Weatherbees father?”

“It’s actually his mother who matters, but I promised I wouldn’t tell, and frankly that really isn’t my secret.” 

“Are there a lot of demi-gods around?” 

“No, I only know Weatherbee. It’s dangerous to be one. Other gods can try to kill you, though that’s never been a problem for me. And then there is the whole issue of containing god like powers in a human vessel.”

“Which is why you get sick?” Jughead asks, even though he knows the answer before Betty says yes. 

“It’s not very sustainable. Weatherbee is the oldest demi god anyone’s heard of, and he’s in his 40’s.” Jughead felt like he was handling the secret really well till now, but this part gutted him. It felt worse than any punch he’d ever received. Betty must have felt the tension in his body because she shifted away from him and the back of the bed and then wrapped him in a hug. 

“I love you.” She whispers into his chest and all he thinks, is she’s going to die. He gets it. Everyone has to sometime. But even though he hasn’t known her for that long, he’s been hoping it would be in their 80’s after a long life together. It’s a fucking cliché for a reason.

Now he knows that isn’t something he’s going to get. It was one thing to know Betty had more power than him, another to know why, but neither seemed to matter at all in the scheme of things, but this, this effected every part of his life.

“You can still walk away.” Betty says, pressing her face against his chest.

“That is not what I’m fucking thinking.” He says. He wanted more time, not less, how could she not know that? 

“Then you have me, for as long as I’ve got.”

“If you stopped using the power could you live longer?” Jughead asks, pulling away. It would be hard for her to stop, but it is certainly, theoretically possible. 

“No. I have to use some of it every day otherwise it would burn me up inside. Using too little is as bad as too much, but it’s hard to get the amount exactly right.” Betty says. “Particularly when It’s something I care about like this case.”

“So stop investigating it. I don’t care.” Betty pulls away and raises one critical eyebrow. Jughead immediately concedes. “Ok, I care. I care. I just want you to be safe.”

“Me too.” Betty says.

The door to the apartment opens and Archie walks through with two large bags. “I brought food.”

“Thank you.” Betty says.

“No one’s even crying, so I guess this went better than expected.” Archie says with a grin. “I told you, Jughead could handle it.”

“I love you man.” Jughead says with a grin. 

Archie looks a little confused by it but then he shrugs “Right back at you.”.

* * *

 

Jughead has a hard time pulling himself out of bed the next day. Betty’s already back from her run and in the shower, while he is still trying to build up the energy to pull jeans over his boxers. 

He had weird dreams last night, in them Betty glowed yellow and there was a tall man that answered to the name Gwyddion. He knew one of the first things he had to do today was to research Gwyddion. Maybe Betty already had, but then again maybe she hadn’t. Jughead had done nothing but the most basic google search for his father. Sometimes you have to be further away from a situation in order to look closely.

Betty entered the room wearing a gray sweater and skinny jeans. “Are you ready for breakfast?” she asks him skeptically, which him all the motivation he needs to pull on his own pants and a shirt. 

“I get to eat breakfast with a demi-god, how lucky am I?” Jughead jokes.

“Everyone on campus gets to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a demi-god if they so choose. So you are not very lucky at all.”

“Yeah, but they don’t know you’re a demi-god.” 

“You’ve done much more exclusive things than have breakfast with a demi-god, that’s all I’m going to say.” Betty says with a wink while opening the door.

“Not for a while.”

“Two days counts as a while?”

“For us, yes.” That was the unfortunate moment where Jughead noticed Archie sitting on the couch. 

“This is why I don’t want to live with a couple.” Archie says, rolling his eyes. “I did not sign up for this.”

“I don’t remember signing up for this either.” Betty says with a wink. Jughead has to admit that she seems fully recovered and in an extra good mood today. He is grateful for that. He thinks that sharing her secret, has made her feel lighter. It has certainly made them closer.

“Are you joining us for breakfast?” Jughead asks Archie. 

“Sure, why not.” Archie says with an exaggerated sigh. The three of them make their way to the cafeteria. Jughead marvels a little at their closeness. He’s never really had this before, this being friends that feel like family. It feels disconcertingly good. 

When they arrive in the cafeteria, the feeling of goodness and rightness fades, when Veronica stands up from the table that she’s sitting at grabs Jughead’s hand and pulls him out of the room into the hall. Archie and Betty follow just behind, them.

“You shouldn’t be here right now. They just arrested your dad, Jughead.”

A wave of shock and panic hits him, although he had known about possibility of this “For what?”

“For murdering all those Hedges. For being the black hood.”

“FP Jones?” Archie says “Really?” Only then does Jughead remember that Archie is out of the investigating loop.

Betty shakes her head, Jughead had brought her up to date last night, it had been part of the whole father’s issue conversation, which had kept them up to three AM. “FP was involved, but he isn’t the Black Hood.” Betty says with more confidence than Jughead feels. 

* * *

Betty knows Jughead feels nervous being here. The third time he will ever see his father in person as an adult is going to be in prison. He’s never been to the officer’s headquarters before, never mind the prison behind it, which resemble a dungeon more than a prison.

Jughead is pacing around the entrance waiting for the guards to take him in the rest of the way to see his father. Betty had made it clear that he was more than welcome to do this on his own, but he insisted that she come with. She had already been able to help. The officer’s initially refused to see them initially, it was only once Betty threatened to call Weatherbee that they were allowed through. 

Now though it is clear that they’re stalling for time, but that will only work for so long. Betty goes over to the desk to ask when they can go in, when a tall, gray haired man that introduces himself as Officer Keller comes over to them and leads them back. 

Most of the cells are empty. Thankfully the Blossoms are in another part of the prison because Betty does not want to run into them again. 

FP is alone in a large windowless cell. Betty can’t help but notices that he paces just like Jughead does. His gaze is focused on the ground in front of him.

“FP.” Jughead says into the cell. FP looks up, for a second Betty can swear she sees relief in his eyes, then it is overwhelmed by a flashing anger. 

“What the hell are you doing here boy?” FP says. 

“I want to help. I want to get you out of here.” Jughead says. Betty can’t help but notice the vulnerability that has entered his voice. 

“It’s too late for that. Didn’t they tell you. I confessed.” FP says his gaze so focused on Jughead Betty doesn’t think he sees anyone else in the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am super curious to find out what everyone thinks about "the big reveal".
> 
> Next Chapter is either all cuddles and fluff or we find out who the Black Hood is. Ok, clearly one of these statements is a bold faced lie. I’m really hoping not everyone is wishing for fluff.
> 
> I have this insane goal to finish before Christmas. Let's see how that goes, because I am also participating in Secret Santa. 
> 
> I am so grateful for comments.


	13. Father Issues (Part II)

Jughead usually finds his History of Magicians class fascinating. For the most part it is all new to him. But today he’s exhausted after having been up half the night trying to clear FP’S name. Which seems like an impossible task, because the idiot confessed to a crime he didn’t commit.

Even behind bars FP clings to his pride. He had told Jughead repeatedly to stop investigating the case. Jughead was ignoring him. He and Betty were still investigating it, Jason was still in a safe house waiting the real killer out. 

It might have only been two days since FP was arrested but Jughead felt like his life had been fundamentally altered yet again. It was one thing to be the estranged son of an infamous magician and it was another entirely to be the estranged son of a serial killer (in which case everyone seemed to conveniently forget the estranged part). 

Prof. Hawthorn was going on and on about one of the major European ruling families and Jughead realized that he was misunderstanding something that was going on. This is the only class he and Archie have in common now that Jughead has gone on to more advanced ones. He’s grateful Archie’s there, sitting in the seat next to him.

Jughead gets Archie’s attention by tapping him with a pencil, once Archie is looking at him Jughead whispers “What does he mean by ruling families?”

“You know, ruling families. Families who rule.” Archie says rolling his eyes.

Jughead whispers back “No, Arch, I do not know, that is why I’m asking you!”

Prof. Hawkins sends Jughead a look, which makes it very clear that he better shut the fuck up for the rest of the class, so he does just that. 

Because he has no shame, and Archie seems to be particularly unhelpful about this subject matter, at the end of class he goes up to Prof. Hawkins and says “I think I missed something. What is a ruling family?” 

Prof. Hawkins stares down at Jughead through his wire framed glasses, and then smiles. “Do you know how Magician culture was structured before there were universities?”

In this class Jughead had heard things that implied they were structured differently but he’s never exactly figured out how. He’d missed the first month or so of lectures so that was part of why he had gaps in his knowledge, yet he still felt a little embarrassed. “No. Can you explain it to me? I’m sorry, I must have missed that part.”

Prof. Hawkins smiles. “Of course. Before there were universities, the people who had the most magic ruled. They were the kings of Magicians, the same way there were kings of regions back then. They would control who got the knowledge and how. All the spells were taught by them. Being caught as a Hedge meant losing your life back then.”

“Fuck.” Jughead knew he should try not to swear so much, particularly in a classroom setting, but no one had called him on it yet.

“Indeed. Like traditional rulers they mostly inherited their power. They also used geographic areas as a mean to exert their control. They wouldn’t allow their Magicians to leave the area of their control. The largest region was England, but most were much smaller. The spells they cast insured that no Magician could leave their region without dying.”

“That’s twisted.” Jughead says, shaking his head.

“It was a different time.” Prof. Hawkins says. “I’m just glad I live in this one.”

“And how did the ruling families get so powerful?” Jughead asks. 

“I don’t usually teach that part.” Prof. Harkness says, meeting his gaze. “We’re not sure exactly, but we think it was through siphoning.”

“Siphoning, as in power siphoning?” Jughead asks. He feels flushed all of a sudden, he doesn’t know if it is nerves or excitement. For the first time he thinks he might actually be close to figuring out who the real is black hood.

“Yes. Exactly. You know about that?” 

“Betty told me, we think someone might be doing that now off of dead bodies.”

Prof. Hawkins made a horrified expression. “The kings back then used dead bodies too, but mostly they used the Magicians that were their subjects, it was how they bound people to them. They wouldn’t take all the Magicians power, just enough to make sure the Magician couldn’t use it against them.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck, if this is what the serial killer was planning to do with the power they were all in trouble, Hedge or not. If he was right this was a deeper and darker scheme than they thought it was.

The awful thing is that even though Jughead had figured this much out he still didn’t know who was gathering this power. The answer must be on the murder board. He doubted the Black Hood was an unknown. It was someone who already had power and resources, FP had made that much clear. 

“Thanks, Prof.” Jughead says running out the door. He crashes right into Betty, his shoulder connecting solidly with her chest, and they both end up on the ground.

“I’m so sorry.” Jughead says as they both stand up. 

“I was hoping to run into you, just not like that.” Betty leans in for a kiss, and her lips brush softly against his just for a moment. 

“I was looking for you.” Jughead says and then gives her a quick rundown of what Prof. Hawkins had told him. Betty had heard of ruling families before, but she hadn’t connected the dots that he had. And she never knew siphoning was factor in how the kings gained and maintained kingdoms. 

She was shaking slightly by the time he stopped talking, and he was worried she had overexerted herself again, but she made it very clear it was from the impact of the information not from the overexertion of magic. After Jughead had updated Betty they started for the office. Maybe the murder board would offer some answers. 

An hour later when they were staring at the list of names on the murder board, it didn’t seem like any actual progress had been made. They might have more insight into the why behind the murders, but so far it hadn’t helped them make any headway regarding who was actually behind the murders. 

The murder board had a lot more on it now. A still of FP in a subway station, a sketch Jughead had made of the intruder in Jason’s apartment, as well as photo copies of the relevant pages from the hedges diary that they’d made visible. 

There were still multiple viable suspects on the board as well. Some they knew a lot about, others they knew basically nothing about. At this point they weren’t making any progress. The murder board might as well be a blank wall for all that Jughead could care at this point. 

“Should we just go get dinner?” Jughead suggests. It’s not like they were making progress here.

“No. We need fresh eyes on this. The ruling families thing only stood out to you because you didn’t grow up hearing about them. It took your fresh perspective to see that what the Black Hood was doing was trying to create a Kingdom for himself. We need someone to look at all our information with new eyes, because they might be able to see what is hidden in plain sight.”

“Who?” 

“Veronica knows almost everyone on our board.” Betty says and grabs her phone, typing something out on it quickly.

“Her dad is on that board!” Jughead protests.

“I already texted her. Besides Hiram and Veronica are not close.” There was a ding on Betty’s phone and Jughead could see that Veronica had texted back the letter K.

Jughead shook his head. Earlier this week Veronica had informed him that his dad was arrested for murder and today they would be informing Veronica that her dad was one of their prime suspects. 

Veronica enters the offices just a few minutes later, perfectly dressed per usual. Her expensive purse at her side. But before they had a chance to exchange greetings, Veronica’s jaw went slack and she drops the purse on the ground. 

She proceeds to march straight over to the murder board and grab the piece of paper Jughead had sketched the picture of the person who had broken into Jason’s apartment on. 

“Why is there a drawing of Andre on the board?” Veronica says sharply. Betty was right about fresh eyes helping. 

“Is that his name? He broke into Jason’s apartment and shot at us with a gun.” Betty says. “How do you know him?”

“He works for daddy.” Veronica says. “He has for a long time. Is he the black hood?”

Shit. Hiram Lodge made sense as the Black Hood in a lot of ways. He already had a lot of money and influence in the Magician community. Jughead had no idea how powerful he was supposed to be, but syphoning could change that. 

“We think Andre works for the black hood.” Betty says calmly. Veronica’s whole body twitches.

“You think my father could be the Black Hood?” Veronica asks. Jughead’s never heard her sound so vulnerable. There is a squeak in her voice. 

“Yes.” 

“Because you caught Andre at one of the crime scenes? That seems circumstantial.” Veronica asks. “Why couldn’t Andre be the Black Hood.” 

“Theoretically.” Betty says. “But there is a lot more information in favor of you father being it. Your familiar with the ruling families system, right?”

“Who isn’t.” Veronica says with an elegant shrug, “But that’s ancient history.”

“Jughead wasn’t familiar with it.” Betty says “So he asked Prof. Hawkins about it and he found out that one of the ways royalty maintained power back then was by siphoning power off of individuals. Something I did not know before.

“I didn’t either. Still I don’t see why that’s relevant?”

“Because we’ve believed for a while now that that these Hedges are being killed for their power. Almost all of the Hedges killed were powerful, far more powerful than their peers. Why just target powerful Hedges when you hate all hedges? The murders were motivated by more than prejudice.”

“Shit.” Veronica says. Somehow from her mouth the word almost sounded elegant.

“Besides, the ruling families always viewed Hedges as a threat, because they were harder to control. They only allowed Magicians that swore loyalty to them, that were bound to them to continue to practice. Eliminating the most powerful Hedges makes it a lot easier to rule New York. Also the locations of the murders encouraged Hedges to move out of Queens and into Manhattan, where it would be easier to exert control” Betty points out. 

The idea of ruling famlies terrifies Jughead. He loves the freedom of Magic. Having a ruling family would change all that. Although it would make Veronica a very powerful individual. After all she was the only daughter of Hiram.

“This sounds terrible, but I do think ruling would appeal to Daddy. He’s always wanted more power. Although he’d have to be delusional to think I would go along with it.”

Jughead kept waiting for the other shoe to drop “And you don’t think he’s delusional?”

“He could well be. He’s been different lately. Distant. I barely saw him over Christmas.” Veronica shakes her head. Jughead can’t imagine what she’s going through. At least he wasn’t raised by his father. He didn’t have any childhood memories featuring FP. 

“Your dad bought Longclaw recently. I think that is because owning Longclaw and controlling it would be a significant first step would be a significant first step towards ruling a larger area.

“Still daddy….” Veronica couldn’t finish the sentence. 

“It’s not conclusive, I agree. But Andre being his employee is a pretty clear indicator that something is up.” Betty says. “But it’s ok. This is your father we are talking about if you think the best thing for you to do is leave this room right now, that’s fine.”

“As long as you don’t dump hot coffee on me at breakfast tomorrow.” Jughead adds.

Veronica’s expression is hard to read. She could be really upset, confused, or just thinking very hard. But when she opens her mouth, her message is clear. “My dad’s done some pretty terrible things, and my mom has always let him off the hook. I’ve been so angry with her about it, yet my first temptation was to do the same damn thing.”

Veronica pauses for a minute, staring at the murder board “If your theory is correct and my dad is trying to turn everyone outside of my family into his magical citizen-servants, it would be to the detriment of everyone I know if I didn’t stand up to him.”

“You still don’t have to help us, V.” Betty says quietly. 

“No, I do. This could change the whole world as we know it if I don’t.” V says with a sigh. Betty gives her a hug. 

“I am glad that you’re on board, but we have still have to prove our hypothesis. We need evidence to convict him. When I confronted FP about his activity he told me that the person blackmailing him, had moved the timeline up.” Jughead says.

“Shoot.” Betty exhales.

Veronica laughs. “It always shocks me that you can spend so much of your time with Jughead who swears constantly, and still when faced with a terrible situation, you don’t curse.”

Jughead smiles. “She’s too busy balancing me out.” 

Betty is all business though. She pulls her hair back into an elastic, shakes her head, and then moves over to the giant pad of paper next to the murder board. 

“We don’t have much time. The officers will be of no help at all, because they believe FP's half-baked confession, and they are generally useless anyways. So we have to focus on catching Hiram either in the act or finding evidence against him. V, can you search his apartment, his office, anything you have access to where he might leave evidence?”

Veronica nods. “No problem. The more proof we have, the better I will probably feel.”

“Jughead and I will focus on setting up a trap.”

“What kind of trap?” Jughead asks.

“The kind that uses Jason as bait.” 

* * * 

It takes them two days to set up the trap, which means two days of interacting with Jason in the new “safe house” they have set up. Jughead vacillates between feeling sympathy for Jason and being tempted to kill him himself. 

Jason has a massive ego and an equally massive addiction to drugs. Jughead hadn’t realized that initially but it made Jason’s erratic behavior a lot more understandable. It also made sense in a way that he was an addict. In order to get his powers he had to ingest all of these drugs, that couldn’t possibly be without side effects. Addiction must have found it’s toehold that way. 

Jason is pacing back and forth across the living room of the apartment. As far as Jughead can tell he took something about a half hour ago and its made him beyond jittery. He’s all twitching fingers and walking feet. 

Betty and he are trying to ignore it. They’ve split a pair of earbuds and are attempting to watch The Seventh Seal on Betty’s laptop. Before Jughead got into Longclaw he used to spend hours watching movies every day, but he’s been too buy the last few months to watch more than a movie a week. 

If Jason wasn’t here this would be a relaxing night of snuggles and re-watching his favorite movies. Instead he’s barely able to focus on the screen. Betty’s arm is around him, and he knows she’s picking up on his tension. 

If past experience is any indicator, Jason will pass out in about an hour and leave them in relative peace. Even then Jughead will be worried about Jason waking up and more importantly about the possibility of Andre arriving at an inopportune time. 

Jason starts shouting nonsensical words. Jughead feels anxiety grip his stomach. He doesn’t remember much from the time when his father still lived with him and his mom, but he does remember the shouting. Whenever Jason does this, and he has done it a couple times every day since they’ve been there, Jughead becomes anxious. 

In a normal scenario Jughead would just leave. But he and Betty are here to protect Jason. That’s their job, not that anyone is paying them to do it, but at least Weatherbee’s allowing them to skip all their classes without being penalized. 

Veronica had searched two of her dad’s houses over the last few days, but had turned up nothing. So everyone was relying on Betty’s plan to work. There was no other clear route forward.

Jughead feels his temper fraying. He’s not going to last much longer. He sits up and pulls his earbud out, Betty does the same. 

“When do you think Andre is going to get here?” He asks Betty. 

“I don’t know. It’s not like he’s late for a dinner invitation. We let Jason go buy drugs from his dealer, that was probably how Andre found him last time. We just have to wait it out.”

“I don’t have much more waiting in me.” Jughead says, honestly. 

Betty nods “I get it. Go, take a walk around the block, then come back. Your probably getting a little stir crazy on top of everything else.”

“No,, I can’t leave. What if Andre comes when I’m gone?” 

“What are the odds? It’s not like you’re going away for a trip. You’ll be gone for five minutes, we’ve been here for two days already.”

Jughead shakes his head, he doesn’t like it, but he can’t help feeling a little tempted by the idea. He doesn’t know how much longer they’ll be here like this. The mix of crazy Jason plus cabin fever, plus invader anticipation, is not making him the easiest person to be around at the moment. 

“Ok, I’ll go. But just for five minutes.” Jughead says. 

“Good. I think it will help.”

* * *

Betty is in the kitchen pouring herself a glass of water, Jason is pacing, and Jughead just left to cool down. Betty hopes it helps him. As much as she loves him, he has started to get on her nerves. 

The door swings open behind Betty and she turns toward it. She didn’t expect Jughead to be back so soon, but it’s not Jughead, it’s Andre. He’s wearing all black and he has his hands out to throw a spell at Jason. 

Jason on the other hand is so out of it that he hasn’t even realized someone else has entered the apartment. He’s still facing the other way, towards the windows not the door. 

Betty raises her hands and casts a wall between Andre and Jason, just in time. A fire ball hurls out of Andre hands. It smashes into the wall and dissipates against it. This is what finally gets Jason to turn around to face Andre, his jaw slack with shock. 

Andre throws a fireball at Betty. She instantly sets up another wall, between him and her. She hasn’t had time to mount an offensive yet, but she will soon. Andre must realize this because a look of shock crosses his face and he turns as if to exit. 

Betty uses her magic to slam the door shut. A look of anger crosses his face and then he runs straight at the magical wall Betty had placed in front of Jason. 

The wall was intended to keep magic out, not people and Andre goes straight through it, a spell on the tip of his fingertips. 

Jason figures it out a little slowly. He starts to raise his hands to cast something just as Andre slams into his body, because Andre miscalculated. The fireball Andre had intended to throw at Jason falls on the ground instead. 

Betty sends one of her most unusual and most powerful spells flying at both Andre and Jason. It was too hard to just aim it at Andre as they are tangled on the floor. 

The spell sent both of them instantly, deeply, to sleep. Their bodies shifting from a loud aggressive tangle to an odd pile. That is the moment the door opens and Jughead enters. 

He takes in the scene silently. His eyes moving from the bodies, to Betty, to the bodies again and then finally to his cell phone. “I was only gone five minutes!” he says, seeing the time.

Betty laughs and then she realizes that Andre was watching the apartment, he had waited till Jughead left to even the odds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twist time! Did anyone see it coming? Everyone? Just two more chapters to go. A lot of things still have to happen. 
> 
> Please comment!


	14. Countdown

Andre wasn’t talking. Jughead has tried his best. Jason had tried, um, something. It had mostly seemed like mindless babbling to Jughead, honestly. 

Betty and Weatherbee had collaboratively cast a spell. Veronica even attempted to pull the family card. Andre hadn’t even asked for a glass of water. 

Jughead was beginning to think that Andre couldn’t talk. 

“Do you want to give it another try?” Betty asks. 

Andre is locked in one of the practice rooms and they have been hanging out in the corridor taking turns at trying to break him. Swapping out to preserve their energy. After 24 hours of no headway it wasn’t just their energy that needed preserving but their hope that needed reviving.

But Weatherbee had closed the whole practice hall to outsiders so at least it was empty. Jughead shrugs. He doesn’t want to say no, but he doesn’t see the point of saying yes. 

He looks around the corridor. Veronica was drooling in her sleep on a battered sofa and Weatherbee was pacing. Jughead himself was slumped against the wall, Betty standing over him. 

“I’ll go back in there with you.” Jughead finds himself saying. Betty extends a hand and pulls him up. She opens the door to the practice room. Andre is still inside, although instead of sitting upright his body is slumped over the desk. 

Jughead runs over to him and checks the pulse. It isn’t beating. “Fuck” Jughead swears. 

“This isn’t good. He wasn’t supposed to die.”

“He killed himself Betts. That’s how much he didn’t want to talk to us.” Jughead says. “Now there is nothing we can do to get him to speak.”

“Actually, maybe he made our job easier.” He looks at Betty and he’s a little surprised and disconcerted to see a smile on her face. 

“What?” 

“I was only out in the hall for five minutes.” Betty says as if that is supposed to mean something significant.

“So? Betty he’s dead.” 

“I know Jug, and I’m really not keen on what comes next but we have a very small window to interrogate his soul, and we have to take it.”

Jughead’s blood runs cold “What the fuck?” 

“The soul, or whatever you want to call it – whatever contains memory, stays in the body for about 15 minutes after death, then it goes wherever your personal theology thinks it goes. But for those 15 minutes certain spells can make it visible, can make it communicate.”

The idea of this sends shivers down Jughead’s spine. This is so outside of the realm he liked to think of as possible.

“Ok, so even if this did work on Andre, why would his soul tell us what his mouth wouldn’t. “ Jughead asks. 

“Do you really think souls have a filter?” Betty says. It is a good point though. Why would they? They are used to speaking through a vessel, a body, and not this freaky shit. 

Betty’s out in the hall, now “Where’s Weatherbee?”

“He was just there.” Jughead says although clearly he isn’t anymore. 

Betty runs to the front door and looks out. “I can’t see him. I have to cast this spell now, we’re running out of time.” 

“Can I help?” Jughead asks. He knows the answer already though.

“No.”

“Then you shouldn’t do it. You could hurt yourself.” Betty looked pissed at that line. Jughead knew she would prefer him to keep quiet about this But it is not like this was a minor matter. 

“We need to solve this case. I should be fine. Usually after Weatherbee heals me it is months before I get sick again.” Betty says, reaching out to squeeze his hand as they head back into the practice room. 

“I don’t like it.” Jughead says.

“Me neither.” But it becomes clear that no matter how much Betty doesn’t like it, she’s planning to cast the spell. “Can you record my conversation with the soul on your phone?”

“Sure.” Jughead says, wondering if this is the weirdest thing ever to be recoded on an iPhone, and then deciding that it probably was not.

It takes Betty a couple of minutes just to cast the spell, which makes it very clear how difficult and complex it is. 

As nervous as he is, Jughead can’t help but admire the way Betty casts a spell. She reminds him of a dancer, the precision of her body is impressive. She finishes with an elaborate hand gesture. Something flies out of Andre. It’s a little transparent. It doesn’t exactly look like Andre but it also doesn’t not look like Andre. 

It is what Andre would look like as an abstract painting, Jughead decides. Jughead turns on the camera in his phone and presses record. The time on the bottom of the screen starts counting up.

“Who are you?” Andre’s soul asks.

“It doesn’t matter. How many Hedges did you kill?” Betty asks.

“Only five. My master wouldn’t let me have all the fun.” Betty was right, souls did not have a filter. 

“Who is your master?”

“Hiram Lodge.” 

“Why is he killing Hedges?”

“To take control of New York and the Magicians in it..”

“The city?”

“The state, or rather the parts of it that matter. Manhattan, but not Queens. Westchester County but not Staten Island. That includes Brooklyn and here, of course.

‘Here?” Jughead asks, wondering if the soul/ghost/memory really knows where it even is, in terms of the physical plain.

“Longclaw.”

“So we were right!” Jughead says, feeling triumphant.

“Focus.” Betty says, “We don’t have much time.” That is when Jughead realizes that the Soul is already noticeably less visible than it was a minute ago. “How do we catch Hiram?” 

“You don’t. He’s too close. He’s too smart. He’s destroyed all the evidence he can.” 

“Fuck.” Jughead says. And with that the soul ghost is gone and Betty starts to shake. It’s not as bad as the fever. It’s more like it was after she saved Jason the first time. 

“Did you record it?” Betty asks, leaning into Jughead. 

“Yes.”

“Let’s see it.” Jughead leads her over to the wall first, and sits her down propped up against it. She’s trembling less, but it’s still noticeable. Once Jughead settles in beside her, his arms wrapped around her, he hits play. 

Andre’s soul on the camera screen, is less recognizable as Andre than it was in person, but the voice coming out of it is clearly recorded. Still Jughead’s not sure it will make a difference. He hasn’t been part of Magician culture for long and he has little idea of how the courts work, but he would be truly shocked if this was admissible in a court of law. 

“What should we do next?” Jughead asks Betty. 

“I think we have to go back to see your father. He’s smart. If anyone has proof against Hiram he does.”

“So? He wouldn’t share before. Why would he now?” Jughead asks. 

“I don’t think FP knew what Hiram’s motives were behind being the Black Hood, do you?” Betty asks. 

Jughead thinks about the question for a second. Hiram has something on his dad, something shameful, something that would turn the tide of public opinion against FP’s image as a bad boy Magician. His dad had clearly chosen going to prison over this secret being revealed, but Jughead didn’t think he would let the whole of NY fall into Hiram’s grasp because of it. He might be a self-absorbed idiot but he’s not completely clueless. 

He cares about Jughead enough to meet up with him. Jughead suspects that part of the reason FP is in jail right now is not just his ego, but his guilt. FP’s guilt about whatever Hiram is blackmailing him about in the first place, as well as his guilt for helping Hiram cover up his actions as the black hood.

“You’re right.” Jughead says and he looks at Betty. She’s stopped trembling but she still looks tired. It’s strange to look at her beside him, wearing blue jeans and a pink cashmere sweater and think, there – that person, she is my heart. 

“Then let’s go.” Betty says, standing up slowly, her hand is still linked with his, as if it was as easy as that. But it wasn’t. Before they could visit the prison, they had to update Wetherbee (who was in the bathroom at the crucial moment) and Veronica (who cried, self-described “angry tears”).

But then after a Uber (there is no ID pass door anywhere near the prison), and some forceful negotiation with the officers in charge, they are standing in front of FP’s cell. 

FP looks a little more tired than usual but otherwise the same. “Jughead, Betty.” He acknowledges them both with a nod. 

“We know whose blackmailing you.” Jughead says. This is his father after all. He can take the lead in this particular interrogation. 

“Oh” FP raises both eyebrows as if to challenge him.

“Hiram Lodge.” The look on FP’s face is everything Jughead hoped for. An obvious confession, just without words. 

“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but I don’t have to tell you.”

“You don’t.” Jughead says. “But do you know why he’s killing those Hedges?”

FP laughs. “Of course. He’s a Puritan. It’s pretty obvious why he’s taking them out.”

That’s when Jughead takes out his phone. Maybe what he has on there won’t stand up in a court of law, but it can still change FP’s mind. 

“You’ve heard of ruling families right?”

“Of course.” FP says with a scoff “Who hasn’t?”. Jughead nods and then press play. This time he doesn’t watch the video, he watches FP watch the video, which is fascinating. 

When it’s over FP asks “Who are you talking to there? It’s Andre but it’s also not.”

“It’s his soul, or close enough.” Betty says. “It remains with the body for about 15 minutes post mortem.” This clears up the lingering questions Jughead had about whether or not this was common knowledge in the Magical world. 

“Fuck.” FP says “And you managed to get the soul to show itself?”

“Not me. Betty.” Jughead says. Betty shoots him a look and he feels like kicking himself. He’s supposed to help keep her secrets, not accidently reveal them. ”But that’s beside the point. Do you really want Hiram to turn NY into his kingdom?”

FP chooses not to answer the question directly. Instead he looks around the room as if trying to spot someone, anyone spying on them from the shadows. Then he spoke “This explains a lot, boy. I was wondering what Hiram was going to do with all that syphoned Hedge power. I just never imagined it would be that.” 

“So can you help us Mr. Jones?” Betty asks.

“I think I can.” FP reaches out through the bars and pats Jughead’s arm with one hand, while slipping a key into his palm with the other. “Go to 200 Garfield Place. It’s where I smoke. Go now.”

“What about you?” Jughead asks.

“What I have there assures mutual destruction Jughead.” FP says with a shake of his head. “But in the scheme of things, I could give two shits.”

 

* * *

Betty is standing in front of 200 Garfield Place. It’s a fancy new building, modern, with sharp corners and a boxy frame. One of Jughead’s hands is in hers, the other turns the key in the lock. 

The door opens revealing an open floor plan and a spotless, airy kitchen/living room/dining room. 

“Is this one of Hiram’s place?” Betty asks quietly. 

“I think it’s my dad’s.” Jughead says, and Betty can’t help but note that this is the first time he’s ever referred to FP as dad. Jughead gestures at a wall full of photos, they are all of FP and various dignitaries. “I wish he told us what we were looking for.” 

“He told us where to look though, it’s where he smokes.”

“How would I know where he smokes?”

“It doesn’t smell in here, so this isn’t it, there’s no backyard either, so I think we have to go up.” Betty says with a shrug. She heads up the perfectly white stairs. It’s such a strange house. It feels more like a film set or a hotel than something really lived in. Upstairs shows signs of actual life though. 

There are clothes thrown on surfaces of everything, but there is no sign of smoking here either. Betty sees a balcony though, off the back and she heads towards it. There are two rusty chairs out there and a table with an ash tray some sort of tin box on it. She slides open the door. Jughead follows her.

She opens the tin box. Inside is a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and a USB key. She picks up the USB key. 

“Should we watch it here, Jug?” She asks.

“No, Hiram might know about this place, he may be able to find us here. Let’s go back to Longclaw and watch it with Wetherbee and Veronica. 

That is how Betty ended up sitting between her boyfriend and her best friend while they all watch her best friend’s father kill a Hedge with a knife through the throat. The footage is grainy, but indisputable. It will feature in her nightmares for the rest of her life. 

The officers arrest Hiram based on the strength of that video alone, but what swayed the court of public opinion was the video that Jughead took of Andres soul that conveniently leaked the next day. 

The video exposing FP’s ‘discovery’ of fairies as fraudulent, was released sometime between the two, and in the whole scheme of things it barely mattered. It hardly qualified as a footnote, all things considered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the last two chapters have not been the most romantic. There was a plot to get through, and given the situation I didn’t think either Betty or Jughead would be feeling particularly passionate, they have to focus on the practical side of things, but they are doing these things side by side (which is kind of romantic in its own way)
> 
> You may have noticed that I added one more chapter to the chapter count. That’s because I started writing the epilogue, and it got massively (and I do mean massively) out of hand. Both chapters will probably be longer than any of the other chapters in this story.
> 
> I’ve only seen one other fic that splits the epilogue (<3 The Stacks) but I’m afraid I have to do this too. But I pinky promise (and I can say this confidently as it is 75% written) that there is a whole lot of magical domestic bughead-ness and it will all be up before Christmas (as long as there are no family health emergencies).  
>    
> Grateful for Comments!


	15. Epilogue Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I have no self control. I finished the rest of the epilogue last night and was like I am going to post part 1 on Friday. Clearly I didn’t make it. Let’s see how long I make it before publishing part II. 
> 
> Also when Hiram declared himself King in last night episode (which I watched this morning) - I was very proud of myself.
> 
> The count I ways, line is a reference to Sonnet 43 By Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

**Two Years After**

Betty adjusts the nameplate that says Dean Jones on her desk. It seems so strange to be here, in what was Weatherbee’s but is now her office. 

It is surreal to be the dean of a school she graduated from months earlier. She knows some of the faculty is furious and she gets it. To them she is a young upstart who stole the job they’d been working towards their whole life right out from under them. 

But the fact that none of her former professors have seemed anything but supportive of her, has spoken volumes. The fact that the board unanimously nominated her, sent a clear message. 

Still the only reason she took this job was Weatherbee. He was the one that insisted that she take the job. His health had been poor of late, and he wanted to spend a few years, actually enjoying the world before leaving it behind. 

Betty will always feel a little responsible for his health issues. He spent so much of his power healing her, during that first year of Longclaw. Since then, thanks to a combination of proper magic management and a lack of magical serial killers, everything has stabilized. 

A knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts. “Come in.” Jughead enters carrying two coffee mugs. “You don’t need to knock.” 

“I know. I’m just in the habit of it. From back when this wasn’t your office.” He hands her one of the coffees, presses a kiss to her forehead, and slumps down into the comfy chair across from her desk. 

It’s funny, they’ve only been together two years now, and Archie gave them so much crap for marrying so quickly, but she can’t really remember the time before him anymore. 

Or rather she can if she tries, but her memory has a way of automatically inserting him into her past, as if she had always known him somehow. 

“I love you.” 

“Because I bring you coffee, right? I told Cheryl that was the secret to a happy marriage the other day.”

“Is it now?” Betty says with a wink. “No, that’s not why I love you. Do you want me to count the ways?”

“Please, do.” Jughead says with a sly smile. 

“Keep in mind this is in no particular order.” Jughead nods his head. ”One, the way you read to me at night. Two, your hugs. Three, the way you always know when I would prefer a strawberry milkshake over a vanilla one. Four, the amount you swear is comforting to me now.”

“You know I’m going to have to cut back if we ever have kids.” Jughead says with a wink. Betty can tell how much he is enjoying this.

“Five, the way you make me laugh. Six, snuggle chatting. Seven, sex. Eight, the way you always keep me warm. Nine, the way you know how to actually comfort me with words. Ten, your essence.” Betty stops counting and looks at Jughead. 

There is so much more she loves about him, from his physical appearance (as shallow as that sounds), to his surprising tenderness. But she can’t keep counting forever. 

“Is that all the ways you love me?” Jughead says.

“No, of course not. But do you really want me to spend all day listing things?” 

“Why not?”

“Because I have work. Speaking of work, how is yours going? Shouldn’t you be there?” Betty says glancing at the clock. 

“It’s fine. I got all my work done in like half an hour.” Jughead was working at one of the big tech companies now. They’d offered him a job seven months ago, and he had waffled for a while, having no actual interest in it, but he eventually agreed, with the contingency that Open Desk also hire Archie.

Besides they pay well, and for someone who was raised without much, Jughead enjoyed the stability money could bring. 

“I wish I had your job.” Betty says with a sigh. 

“Yours looks pretty easy right now?” Jughead says, glancing around the empty office. Betty throws her agenda at Jughead. She still likes keeping a paper one. She finds the fact that it will never crash, reassuring.

He flips open to the current day and reads over the schedule Betty now is very aware of. It’s full of both student and faculty meetings.

“Oh, so I lucked onto your only 30 minute break.” Jughead says. He stands up, comes around the desk and kisses her, his hand presses against her lower back. She can tell he wants more than a kiss, but they know each other so well now, she knows how to make it clear that kissing is all they can do here, without putting it into words. 

**Three Years After**

Cheryl and Veronica are dancing slowly together, their white lace dresses, trailing on the ground behind them as they sway. It’s late now, long after the first dance and even the tenth. 

The venue is everything one would expect from a Lodge-Blossom wedding which means that Jughead is very uncomfortable here. He thought that after almost four years in the Magician community he would have adjusted, but he has not. 

He’s smiling though, and Betty’s talked him into more dances than he would normally allow even her. The ceremony itself was beautiful. And it is hard to complain much about the extravagant and delicious meal that is still filling his stomach. 

It has been a special day, which is good considering that in spite of the odds both brides have wormed their way into his heart. He would actually declare with something approaching confidence that he was closer to Cheryl than Betty was. 

“Do you wish we had this?” Jughead whispers to his wife. Betty looks up and into his eyes. She’s much more made up than she usually is, and whatever mascara she is wearing is really bringing out the green in her eyes.

“What?”

“A big extravagant wedding?”. Their wedding was actually an elopement. Jughead had woken up the day before they graduated Longclaw, looked at Betty pressed into his chest, and thought why the hell were they not married already, so he woke her up and told her that, exactly. 

He can still remember the specific smile she gave him before telling him, that there was nothing stopping them from getting married right then. Archie was no longer their roommate at that point, so they had to walk across campus to wake him up to be their witness, and then they grabbed Veronica, and that was their wedding party. 

The person who officiated their marriage seemed entirely bored by the process. But Jughead didn’t really care less. Afterwards all four of them had gone for a long walk in Central park and the next day they all got their diplomas. 

Alice, Hal, and FP all found out about the marriage at the celebratory dinner after the graduation ceremony. They noticed the new rings Jughead and Betty had picked out the day before. That was the only sore point in the otherwise glowing memory, the anger their parents had on finding out that they’d been excluded from events.

“No, an extravagant wedding is Cheryl and Veronica’s style. It’s not ours. They’re all couples massages, mimosas, and fancy jewelry.” Betty says with a smile.

“If that’s their couple style what’s ours?” Jughead asks. They were dancing awfully close to Cheryl and Veronica by then, but Jughead hadn’t really noticed that till Cheryl answered the question intended for Betty.

“You were the kind of couple that was married before you did the damn paperwork. You are all coffee and books and burlap.” Cheryl says, with a smirk. 

“Burlap? Neither of us wear burlap.” Betty says.

“I didn’t mean it literarily. I meant it metaphorically. Neither of you guys need luxury. You’re the kind of couple who can sleep on a crappy couch and not complain about it.”

“So the opposite of you and Veronica?” Veronica laughs, Cheryl just continues to dance. 

**Five Years Later**

Maya was sleeping in the baby carrier. Her pink cheek pressed against Jughead’s chest. All he could see of her, was her black hair. He could feel her breathing against him though, and that alone was reassuring. 

“Jughead, what are you thinking?” Betty asks, reaching for his hand. They are hiking up a mountain in Big Sur California, seeking a hermit Magician that may or may not be able to help them find Hiram Lodge. 

Hiram had escaped from prison two weeks ago, during the final exam week at Longclaw, so Betty couldn’t even consider doing anything about it at the time, but Jughead, still thankfully underutilized and over payed at work, has spent the last week helping dig up any possible leads. 

Jughead was very frustrated that in the last half decade magical law enforcement had not improved one bit. Public pressure was the only reason anyone in council was even pretending to look for Hiram. 

So Betty and Jughead had canceled their plans to spend a month at a cottage in Cape Cod enjoying Maya and reading, and now they were stuck hiking up a mountain in search of a powerful hermit with an almost one year old along for the ride. If this lead didn’t pan out they had two others to pursue. 

“Just about our life. How maybe this isn’t cape cod, but at least we can all do this together, me, you and Maya.” 

Jughead loves being a father. He tried so hard not to pressure Betty to have a baby, it was her body that would be the incubator after all, but the day she said she was ready to start trying was among the happiest of his life. 

“A year from now this won’t be as easy.” Betty says.

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s one thing to haul a sleeping baby up a hill, it’s another thing entirely to do that with an awake toddler.”

“Maybe Maya will be a good napper.” 

“One can hope/” Betty says with a smile. “I am carrying her on the way down though.”

“No! You can’t steal the baby snuggles from me.” Jughead says with a teasing grin. 

“Please?” Betty’s a little ahead of him now on the path. Jughead likes to think that she’s not sweating because she doesn’t have the baby carrier on her, but out of the two of them, she’s still the one in better shape, so it’s probably that. 

“Of course. When can I deny you anything?”

“There was that once you refused to get me a milkshake.”

“It was four in the morning. I was sleeping.”

“I know, but I was pregnant.” Betty says, turning back towards him and winking.

“Maybe I should get pregnant, than you would have to get me stuff whenever I ask.” Jughead jokes. 

“I think there is a spell for that.” Betty says. She’s facing away from him so there is no way he can read her expression, he thinks she must be joking. She better be. 

Seven Years After

Maya is in Montessori now, so Jughead in an effort to make himself less lonely, has started working in the company’s office during the morning. If he stays at home he misses Maya too much. 

But he still spends the afternoons with her, picking her up at one and taking her to the park or the indoor playground. Betty meeting them around 5, after her work is finally over. It’s a good life. There is a nice rhythm to it.

Jughead’s at work on Wednesday morning in his corner office, when he sees Weatherbee walk past in the hallway. Jughead’s heart feels like it stops for a second.

He’s heard the rumors, of course he has, how could he not? But still it had been hard for him to believe them. Weatherbee wasn’t just his old dean, he was a friend once, someone who had saved Betty’s life multiple times. 

Betty had her current job only because of Weatherbee’s insistence. It certainly wasn’t what she really cared about. Just the other day she had joked that they’d have to start a side business as detectives, just to stay sane. 

Weatherbee was no longer human. That’s the rumor Jughead has heard anyhow and given that Weatherbee as he passed was the picture of health, looking younger than Jughead himself, Jughead was inclined to believe the rumor. Jughead gets up from his desk and goes out into the hall. 

Weatherbee is chatting with Jughead’s boss, the head of the whole damn company. Jughead stands a little ways away, not listening to what they’re talking about, but waiting for it to be over. 

When they do finish talking Weatherbee turns towards Jughead. After Weatherbee’s retirement and before he was turned into a God (if the rumors are true) Weatherbee would stop by the Joneses apartment on campus, once or twice a month to have dinner and talk. He would always greet Jughead with a hug, a stiff one, but still genuine. These visits stopped three years ago. 

Now Jughead knows the rumors are true because Weatherbee is looking at Jughead as if he’s a complete stranger. 

“I’m Weatherbee, and you are?” Weatherbee extends his hand, and Jughead’s stomach twists. Such a terrible feeling, someone you know well becoming a stranger. 

“Jughead Jones.”

“I knew you once.”

“Yeah. Pretty well, I’m married Betty Cooper.” Jughead says.

“She’s a demi-god, right?” Weatherbee asks. Jughead knows that if Betty was here her heart would be breaking so he is very glad that she is not. 

“Yes.”

“How is she doing health-wise?” 

“Better.” Jughead says then he realizes based on the way Weatherbee is behaving he most likely can’t remember Betty at all so there is no context for the word better. “She has your old job at Longclaw.”

“I know.” Weatherbee says, meeting Jugheads gaze. “I can even remember some facts, like Betty being sick, but I can’t remember feelings, so sometimes the facts don’t make sense. Like why would I spend so much of my own power on her? Humans are silly.”

Jughead feels a chill pass threw him. He’s heard that this is how it works. If a demigod becomes a god, they lose all or most of the feelings they had towards their former life. They can no longer really connect with humans.

“Can I ask you why you became a god?” Jughead asks. 

“I found Aphrodite” Betty never broke old Weatherbee’s trust and told Jughead who his mother was, but apparently this Weatherbee has no problem sharing that he is the son of Aphrodite. “I spent years tracking her down. I was dying and she offered me a choice, become a god or become a mortal without magic.”

Fuck. That wasn’t what Jughead was hoping to hear. Betty’s not been very sick for a few years now, and she’s found two other demi gods that she exchanges healing powers with in the last year, but still, Jughead can feel a sort of clock ticking over their lives. 

Most demi gods die between 30 and 40 if they even make it that long, and Betty turns 30 in two years.

“Do you think Betty’s father would offer her the same choice?” Jughead asks, stiffly.

“Yes. It’s the only choice the god’s can offer half breeds.” Jughead hates that term, but he doesn’t react to it, instead he just nods. 

“I have to go now.” Weatherbee says stiffly. Jughead doesn’t even bother saying bye. He knows now he has to find Betty’s father. It’s not a matter of connecting, or soothing old wounds. Betty’s future, no matter how crumby it will probably be for Jughead, depends on it. 

 

**Nine Years After**

 

Betty has to shake Jughead to get him to wake up. It still astonishes her that he can sleep just about anywhere. She hypothesizes that it is one of the weird after effects of spending ones teenage years in the foster system, but she may be wrong.

“What!” Jughead says angrily, then he realizes that he’s in the back of a cab and that Betty was the one waking him. “Sorry! It was a good dream you woke me up from.” 

Betty smiles at him. He’s still groggy from sleep, but they have to get out of there. She pays the cab driver and helps Jughead out of the back seat. They are standing on the Brooklyn sidewalk outside of their brownstone. They moved here right before Maya was born, but only now is it starting to feel like home. 

“Aren’t you excited to see Maya?” she asks. It’s 9 PM so Maya should already be asleep, but after seven days away from her, all Betty wants to do is pick her up and cuddle. 

“Yes.” Jughead replies. He looks more awake. He grabs both their carry-ons and hauls them up the stairs. 

Betty follows him up and then unlocks the door. Jughead is terrible at keeping track of his keys, he is always loosing them. Before she opens the door she turns back and kisses him. Both of them taste a little like the long day of travel they had, but also themselves.

“I already miss Paris.” Jughead mumbles after Betty pulls back from the kiss.

“You mean you miss waking up late, spending long mornings in bed and eating too many croissants.”

“and long walks holding hands and eating banana Nutella crepes. Don’t forget!”

“Never.” Betty says and Jughead gives her a kiss and she opens the door. FP and Archie are sitting on the couch together and playing a video game. They are so caught up in whatever they are playing they don’t even look up when Betty and Jughead enter. 

When Betty and Jughead had announced they were going away for their eighth wedding anniversary, everyone had volunteered to take care of Maya. Because they had not wanted to offend anyone, and because it was less likely to wear anyone out, they went through a rotating schedule, with teams of two people (usually couples) taking Maya for twenty four hour periods.

Archie and FP were the last team, and considering the two had never exchanged more than a few words, no one knew how well it would go. Apparently very well. 

“Hi guys!” Betty says loudly.

“Betty! Jug!” Archie says looking up from the screen and pressing pause. “How was the flight?”

“OK. I really wish you could go to Europe via ID pass. It would make life so much better.” Jughead says. FP laughs. 

“How was Maya?” Betty asks. 

“Wonderful.” FP says.

“She’s a lot like you were as a kid, Betts.” Archie says. Betty doesn’t agree with that. Maya really reminds her of Jughead. At six Maya is already sarcastic and biting, in a way that screams, Jones to Betty. She certainly physically takes after Jughead more as well. Only her green eyes nod towards Betty. 

“She went down about an hour ago.” Archie says nodding upstairs. “You guys usually let her eat a pint of ice-cream before bed, right?”

Jughead and Betty exchange looks of horror as Archie and FP start to laugh manically. 

Once Archie catches his breath he says. “See FP, I told you they would fall for it!” 

“Hard.” FP says and then they’re both laughing crazily again. Betty turns towards Jughead. He has a look of mild amusement on his face.

“I’m going to head upstairs to check on Maya.” Betty says making her way towards the stairs. Jughead doesn’t say anything he just follows her up. 

Maya’s bedroom is on the top floor of the brownstone. Betty opens the door to the room to see that Maya is under the covers with a flashlight, in her own sort of makeshift tent.

“Maya!” Betty finds herself saying excitedly. The cover is thrown off and Maya discards a book and a flashlight while running straight at Betty her arms outstretched to hug.

 

**Eleven Years After**

 

Jughead’s been to five continents in search of Gwyddion now. He wishes god’s would stick to their historic homelands. That would make this whole endeavor a whole lot easier. 

When he first started searching for Gwyddion, years ago now, he told Betty about it. He thought maybe she would want to help, and he also hated the idea of keeping anything a secret from her. That had never been a part of their relationship. 

But Betty, for reasons Jughead understood, wasn’t up for helping (beyond the occasional spell). She really didn’t want to meet her father if she didn’t have to, and she preferred to think of him as little as possible. Jughead understands that. That was how he was with FP for years, and his position with FP is a lot more straightforward. Neither of them has any clue how many children Gwyddion had fathered over the years, for example. FP had been there for the first three years of Jughead’s life. They were not even sure if Gwyddion had ever even seen Betty. 

So now Jughead was stuck in Tokyo missing his family and searching the city for Gwyddion.. He’s gone a quest like this once a year for the last four, but he’s never turned anything up yet. 

This time Jughead has a black and white picture of Gwyddion that he found in London last year and when he showed it to a cook at a busy Raman place he recognized Gwyddion. He says he’d seen him every day in the last week at a nearby shrine. 

So Jughead was there at 5 AM with a cup of coffee waiting and watching, when he felt a tap on his back. He turns around to see Gwyddion. 

Gwyddion’s tall and striking looking. He has a shock of blond hair and the green eyes that Betty has. 

“Hello, Jughead Jones.”

Fuck. Jughead was the last person to ever think that his father-in-law would actually know his name. Clearly Gwyddion had kept some sort of eye on his daughters life. 

“Hi Gwyddion. I finally found you.” 

“I finally allowed you to find me.” Gwyddion says, and Jughead knows that must be true. After all Gwyddion was the one who tapped him on the shoulder. 

“Thank you for that.” 

“Betty’s not with you, though. Is she ok?” 

“Betty doesn’t really want to see you.” Jughead doesn’t see the point in lying.

“But you do?” 

“Not particularly.” Gwyddion laughs at that. It’s a satisfying laugh, and it is reassuring to Jughead that it is nothing like Bettys. “I want to talk to you about Betty’s health.” The god nods, impassive. “She’s fine now, or close to it. But I want to know if, when the time comes, you’ll give her the same options Weatherbee’s mother gave him.” 

Gwyddion nods. “Maybe, maybe not.” Jughead feels gut punched. It must show on his face because Gwyddion adds. “I’m a trickster, you don’t want a straight answer from me.”

Jughead forces himself to say “Can I have a way to contact you?”

Gwyddion hands Jughead an old school business card with three numbers listed on it. “Only in an emergency. You give this information to anyone else, and everything is over” And with that Gwyddion disappears. 

Jughead is left with a mix of emotions. It was not a straight forward meeting. Outside of the phone numbers, there wasn’t really in straight forward answers. 

He desperately wants to call Betty right away and tell her what happened, but it isn’t really the update he wanted to give her. Instead it was this loose ambiguous thing. Still he pulls out his phone and dials her number. 

It is strange to have years of research boil down to this, something that feels dangerously close to nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very grateful for comments! Particularly for this chapter. I've had so much fun writing it.


	16. Epilogue Part II

**Thirteen Years After**

Earlier in the day, when the party was in full swing, the backyard of their brownstone had been filled to the brim with food, co-workers, professors, and friends. Now most of the guests had gone home, leaving only the stragglers, otherwise known as their dearest friends. 

Cheryl and Veronica were sitting sipping cocktails on the back porch, Maya and Archie were cuddled into the hammock nearby. 

This is or rather was Betty’s farewell to Longclaw party. She’d stepped down as Dean, against the boards ongoing protests. But really they shouldn’t have been so surprised. The Council had finally given her full control of re-working the Officers system.

It had been Betty’s dream for over a decade, and she couldn’t turn it down. Even though she was worried that she wouldn’t have the job for long. Just this morning she had coughed up blood. She knew she only had a few years as a Magician left. 

She doesn’t allow herself to dwell on that though. It’s not going to help things. For now she finally has her ideal job and her ideal co-worker. Jughead was her first hire, naturally. He was happy to step down from his previous job, one he had never really connected with, but he didn’t feel like he could leave because they kept throwing money at him (sometimes literally).

“Baby, do you want another drink?” Jughead asks as he passes the lounge chair she has sprawled out on. 

“Water would be nice.” She says. He bends down and presses a kiss to her lips. 

“EWWWW. Stop it!” Maya protests. Jughead laughs. 

“See that is why we don’t have kids.” Cheryl says. “I don’t want anyone shouting that at us, particularly if we created them.”

“That’s not the reason. Ronnie’s never wanted kids.” Archie says. 

“How would you know that?” Maya asks.

“Because she told me when we were… Guys help me out here.”.

“Dating.” Betty supplies quickly at the same time Cheryl supplies the phrase friends with benefits and Veronica says fuck buddies. 

“Veronica, don’t swear around my child.” Jughead says, as he sits down besides Betty and hands her the glass of water.

“That is rich coming from you.” Veronica says with a wink. “Maya. I’ll have you know that your dad used to swear more than anyone I’ve met.”

“That was a long time ago.” Jughead says.

“In a galaxy far far away” Archie adds. 

“You dated Archie?” Maya says, looking confused. “Why?”

Archie flushed bright red, and Veronica says with a grin “I was young and stupid.”

“But then you met Aunt Cheryl and everything became better?” Maya says softly.

“That’s not exactly the way that story goes.” Jughead says. 

“Why not?”

“It’s your bedtime.” Jughead says simply, getting up and scooping Maya out of the hammock. 

“No, dad! It’s just getting good!” 

“It’s too late.” Jughead carries her into the house amid half hearted protests. The yard fills once again with silence. It’s beautiful back here. They’d put a lot of effort into cleaning it up for the party and it has paid off. It felt nice to be surrounded by green in the city.

“Your party was a success.” Archie declares.

“Of course it was, I planned it.” Veronica says. Betty is glad she turned over the planning to Veronica. If it had been up to Betty things would have been a little simpler, there was no need for the three piece band Veronica had hired, for example, but it would have been a lot less elegant. 

It had been the kind of exit she had hoped for. Ignoring the fact that none of the board attended because they were still so angry with her.

“Betty, how well do you know Midge?” Archie asks. Midge was the last person that Betty had hired at Longclaw. She was a good decade younger than them but a talented Magician. Betty had noticed that Archie had spent a fair amount of the party flirting with her. 

“Pretty well, but I don’t think you should get involved with her.”

“Why not?” Archie scoffs. “Because she’s too young?”

“Yes.” Veronica says quickly.

“No, she’s a demi-god.” Everyone in the backyard knows that Betty is one now. It was the kind of secret you couldn’t keep forever. 

“I will pass.” Archie says. 

“I don’t know, falling in love with a demi-god was the best thing I’ve ever done.” Jughead says. Betty is surprised that he’s back already. Although now Maya’s older and more independent she often won’t let them put her to bed. 

“I don’t want my heart broken, thank you very much.” Archie says. “No offense, Betty.” 

“None taken.” Betty says. Archie is just venturing into serious dating, and he’s finding it harder than he thought. The few women he had tried to date seriously knew too much about his reputation to take him seriously. 

Jughead scoots in beside Betty on the lounge chair and she places her head against his chest. As nice as the party was, this is a thousand times better.

Cheryl and Veronica exchange a heated kiss and Archie throws his hands up in the air “Why am I always surrounded by lovebirds.”

**Fifteen Years After**

Betty and Jughead are in the office of one of a council member they suspect is corrupt. Betty is going through the desk drawers and Jughead is digging through the closet. This man is technically one of their bosses. 

To be caught would be terrible. Yet it is worth the risk. Betty finds herself opening a folder that is jammed full of blackmail information on all the other council members. There’s a photo of one in a compromising position with someone who is definitely not human. There is another council member snorting a drug of some kind. 

Betty quickly shoves the photographs back in the envelope “Jug, I found something.” she says.

“Great.” He stands up from his hunched over position in the closet. “Let me…” He stops abruptly because they both can hear the sound of someone opening the office door. Jughead has enough time and grace to dive silently back into the closet. 

Betty has no such time, instead she has to cast the invisibility spell very quickly. By the time the man walks into the room, a security guard with a badge and a flashlight, Betty is fully invisible. The man examines the room cursory and then steps back out into the hall. 

Betty hears him humming as he leaves. She makes her shaking body visible again, Jughead is out of the closet and has his arms around her moments later.

“Are you ok?”. Betty nods. She’s been careful with magic lately, and she was only invisible for thirty seconds. Everything should return to normal soon. 

She’s right. BBefore they even leave the office through the window she’s stopped shaking. She easily casts a spell so that they can suction themselves to the wall to descend. 

Then they are standing in the alley together, the blackmail portfolio in her hand. She feels a little burst of joy travel through her. 

“This was great” Betty says. 

“It was, surprisingly. It reminded me a lot of dating you.” Jughead’s smile is soft.

“Oh, the good old days.”

“Not really. Being married to you is even better.” Jughead kisses her and she feels like she always does, like she is home. 

**Nineteen Years After**

Jughead never thought it would happen this quickly. Everything was fine on Monday. Betty was working a case, all was right in the world. 

It just took one spell during an interrogation to take her down. Betty was in a coma. The last words Jughead remembers her saying to him were “Don’t forget to buy asparagus.”

Those better not be her last words. Jughead had phoned the number Gwyddion had given him all those years ago. A women answered, her voice was sweet and soft. She said Gwyddion was in the Catskills, that they had to find him there.

Jughead couldn’t leave Betty’s side or Maya’s. Their daughter a ball of nerves and tears. Of snappy “I don’t need you dad.” and long snuggles. 

At least because it was a magical coma Betty could be at home. Jughead had moved into the guest bedroom and Betty was laid out in their bed. Jughead was sitting by her side now. 

He had sent Cheryl and Veronica into the Catskills two days ago. Cheryl whining the whole way, asking why they couldn’t just hire someone. Veronica rolling her eyes and pulling on brand new hiking books. 

This morning he had finally heard from them. They had found Gwyddion. Any time now they would be here, with him. They hadn’t been able to tell Jughead anything more than that. 

Jughead gets up from the bed and starts to pace. Nothing will be the same after today. Either Gwyddion will let Betty die or Betty will in all likelihood have to choose between being a god or a mortal. 

The door to the bedroom sweeps open to reveal a sleep deprived but still perfectly made up Cheryl, and Veronica with her hair in an unprecedented ponytail. Behind her is Gwyddion. He looks exactly as he did about almost decade ago. Except this time he is wearing hiking clothes which look a little strange on him. 

“Thank you.” Jughead says. “Thank you both so much.” Veronica hugs Jughead warmly and Cheryl kisses his cheek,

“Keep us updated.” Cheryl says as they descend the stairs. Jughead doesn’t know if they are actually leaving or just camping out in the living room till he has an update. He couldn’t really dwell on that though. Gwyddion had crossed to Betty’s bedside and places his hand on her chest. 

Betty wakes with a start. She doesn’t sit up though. She just opens her eyes, and stares at Gwyddion. Jughead rushes to her other side and reaches for her hand. “I love you.” He says. She squeezes it back.

“Focus.” Gwyddion barks. “We don’t have much time.”

Betty turns towards his father. She is seeing him for the first time. She seems to be taking in the way he looks. “Yes. I can feel the lack of time.”

“You have two options. They are the only ones I can give you. Live as a human without a magic or become a god.”

“OK.” Jughead has known for years that these are likely the options that she will face. In the best case scenario. They’ve talked about them a little but for the most part Jughead has avoided bringing it up. He’s always stopped her from telling him anything that sounds like a decision. He doesn’t want to know.

No matter what nothing will be the same. 

“Do you have a decision?” Gwyddion asks. Betty nods confidently. 

“Human.” She says. 

“No.” Jughead says before he can stop himself. He promised himself he wouldn’t interfere. He had sworn it up and down, and yet here he was unable to stop himself. 

It’s just Betty is the best Magician he knows. She uses her powers for good every day, the idea that she would sacrifice that to stay human seems wrong to him. As much as he would miss her, he wants her to be happy, and he thinks she has a shot of being both happy and good as a god. Even though they can no longer be together if she is one.

“Ignore him.” Betty says. “Make me a human, please.”

The room goes dark. 

 

**Twenty One Years After**

“Damnit Jug! How does anyone live without key finding spells?” 

“Wall hooks.” Jughead suggests. Betty throws a pillow at him, and then a smile grows on her face. When she threw the pillow she revealed her keys on the sofa. 

“Found them.” She says. She leans in to kiss him and he kisses her back deeply, she returns the kiss, adds her tongue. Then Betty pulls away.

“I have to go.”

“Please no.” Jughead says, trying to run through his morning schedule in his head. There’s nothing too urgent that he can’t delay. He now has Betty’s old job, running the officers, and it’s a challenging one, but because he is the boss he can delay things every once in a while.

“The book store isn’t going to open itself.” Betty says, shaking her head. 

“So, one or two very angry readers can wait for twenty minutes.” Jughead kisses her again. “Just twenty minutes.”

“Juggg.” Betty protests “This is my livelihood now.” Jughead refrains from pointing out what they both know, that neither of them had to work another day in their lives.

But he gets it. The first six months after Betty lost her magic she was despondent, depressed. She had more time than she knew what to do with after years filled with busy days. The empty days only served to highlight her loss. 

And then she bought the bookstore. It hasn’t solved everything and she still clearly misses magic (he’s caught her a few times attempting to cast spells out of habit), but things were improving. 

“When I get home.” She says pressing her warm lips to his. 

 

**Twenty Two Years After**

Jughead is looking out the back window, while taking another sip of coffee. Betty walks over to where he is, in front of the kitchen sink and slips her arm around his waist “Any sign of her??”

“No.” Jughead says worriedly. 

“She’ll be ok, Jug.” Betty says, stealing a sip of her coffee. “She’s 18 now.”

“We weren’t sneaking out of the house at 18.” Jughead says.

“That’s because you were out of the foster system and living on your own, and I was living off campus with Archie.”

Jughead hates her logic. She’s right, of course she’s right. “Yes, but we are actually good parents.” 

Betty laughs “I’m sure Maya has some legitimate complaints about us.” Jughead pretends to scowl, but he knows Betty is right. There is no such thing as the perfect parent, or the perfect child for that matter.

“I currently have some complaints about her.”

Betty smiles into her coffee mug. “She snuck out at midnight, it’s two in the morning now, she’s 18, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“But why is she sneaking out at all? Why couldn’t she just tell us?” Jughead says, scanning the backyard again. Something is moving out there, but when he focuses and looks closer he realizes it is just a racoon.

“I’m sorry.” The voice is Maya’s and Jughead finds himself turning towards it. She’s standing in the doorway. At 18 she looks more like Jughead than Betty. She’s got his edge to him a bit. She hadn’t got any tattoos (yet), but her ears are pierced five times each and she has a ring in her nose. Her hair is cut short.

She is currently wearing torn jeans and a shirt that shows her midriff. “I got invited to go to a magic battle. I thought you two were asleep. Otherwise I would have told you. But remember I am...”

“Eighteen after all.” Jughead and Betty finished in unison. 

Maya comes over to them and hugs them both at the same time. She’s taller than Betty, almost as tall as Jughead. “Thanks for not setting a tracker spell after me.”

“I wish I could.” Betty says with a wink, but without the sadness that always used to imbue her voice when she said such things. “Did you win?” 

Maya shakes her head. “But I did run into Uncle Archie there.’

“Will he ever grow up?” Jughead says with a grown. Magic Battles were only for those under thirty as far as Jughead was concerned, not that he’d ever even been to one. They were all about fighting and flirting, as well as other things, Juhgead preferred not to think of in the context of Maya. 

“Did you guys ever go to them when you were young?” Jughead wishes he could protest this sentence, but the fact is he’s not exactly young anymore (and he’s kind of glad he isn’t – before Betty’s transformation he felt her death looming over every day, as much as he wishes she still had magic, it’s a huge relief that she’s safe, that she’s his). 

‘No, I had to keep the amount of magic I had hidden back then.” Betty says. “Besides I’ve always been monogamous by nature.”

“I found out about the traditional magical community only after meeting your mother.” Jughead adds.

“But you didn’t start dating right away?”

“It only took us a month, and I knew right away.” Jughead says.

“I want that kind of love.” Maya says with a sigh, pouring herself a glass of water. “And before you say anything, it can happen at a magic battle.”

“Agreed.” Betty says. “But you should meet my new bookstore employee.”

“A magician?”

“No, she’s a hedge. But I’m going to put in a good word for her at St. Georges and see how that goes.

“Oh, what’s her name?” 

“June.” Betty says. Jughead laughs. 

“What?” Maya says. “I don’t have a problem with mom setting me up do you?”

“No, I just thought of her with your last name – June Jones.” Betty laughs too, her eyes glinting.

“Dad, stop getting ahead of yourself.” Maya says. She deposits her used water glass in the sink and heads upstairs. “I love you guys.” She shouts as she disappears from sight. 

“I’m so glad she’s commuting to school this year.” Jughead says. He’s not ready to be an empty nester. 

“I agree.” Betty says, placing her hand in his. “We are so lucky to call her our daughter.” Jughead leans down and kisses her between her shoulder blades.

“I am so lucky in every single way.” 

**Twenty Two Years After**

They’ve talked about this for years. Going on a vacation together, all six of them. Cheryl, Veronica, Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Maya. 

Jughead sometimes worries that Maya is spoiled by being the only kid in their friend-group. Everyone dotes on her. But now she’s not even a kid anymore so it’s too late to undo any damage that they’d done. 

They are on island in Greece. Jughead can’t pronounce the name properly, but it sounds beautiful when the locals pronounce it. Veronica has rented a villa, gleaming white, with a large pool. There is a chef that takes care of all of their needs and a house keeper that comes in every other day. 

Jughead is less uncomfortable with all this than he would be twenty years ago, but he’s still uncomfortable. Or as uncomfortable as one can be on a gloriously sunny but not too hot day while drinking a mango strawberry mocktail after a swim, surrounded by your long time best friends. 

Betty’s sitting beside him on the outdoor sofa when the game starts. Maya starts them. She sets up a row of cans on the other side of the pool. She takes them out with a fireball. She is her father’s daughter sometimes, Jughead swells with pride. 

Jughead lines them up again and takes them out with a gust of wind. From there they only get more creative. Archie bows out when Cheryl takes them out one by one with tiny magic rocks. 

Only then does Jughead notice that Betty is missing. He gets up and heads into the house. No one notices him leave, just like no one noticed her leave. He’s in their room a minute later and she’s lying face down on the white sheets. 

When he rolls her over he’s not surprised that she’s crying. “I am so sorry baby.” He says.

The thing is that living without magic is something Betty has turned out to be surprisingly good at. 

Before she lost her powers they had both worried that it would turn her bitter, and while the first year was rough, the ones following it have been so much better. It will always be an adjustment, he gets that, but she’s handling it better than he thought possible.

“I didn’t mean to get so upset.” She says as he pulls her onto his lap. “I just get so jealous sometimes.”

“That’s normal. Betty, you spend so much time around Magicians and don’t freak out. It’s frankly impressive.” She’s pressing her cheek into his chest now. “I don’t know what I would do in your position. I don’t know how I would handle things.”

“Most days, it’s easier than I thought it would be.” Betty says. “But some days it’s so much harder.”

Jughead is so glad she’s telling him all this. His wife is so strong he sometimes forgets how human she is, how much she has been through, how much she continues to go through. 

“How do you get through the hard days?” He asks. 

“I think about my other options. Jughead you saved me by finding Gwyddion. I would have died years ago. Living this way is better than that.”

“And what about…” Jughead’s voice trails off. They never talk about her decision not to become a god. It’s just too heated for them. But still sometimes at night he thinks she might have been happier that way.

“That would have been dying too.” Betty says, pulling away from his chest and looking him in the eyes. 

“And this is living?” He asks her, and he realizes then how absurd he’s being. He would choose her over magic any day.

“Yes.” She says and he wraps her in a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to JandJSalmon and KittiLee for commenting on every single chapter of this very long story. You are both so wonderful! 
> 
> There is so much more I wanted to fit into the epilogue, but it couldn’t go on forever so I had to force myself to stop. Scenes that were cut/never fully explored include an Alice Cooper deathbed scene, more bughead investigates and a parent park scene, where another Mother hits on Jughead and Betty keeps disappearing aforementioned mother’s cell phone. Oh and one of their fortieth anniversary party with Maya and her wife giving a super sweet toast. Maybe one or more of these will eventually show up on Tumblr.
> 
> The whole time I was writing this I was planning on an ambiguous ending with the story ending as Betty made her choice between the two fates, but I was reading a book and it had a terrible ambiguous ending and I was like forget that. There is only one real choice Betty would make. Once she made that choice I didn’t want to end the story. I wanted to explore at least a little how that would change things. 
> 
> This is the most fun I’ve ever had writing a long multi-chapter (which is probably how it got so darn long). I am really truly smitten with this version of Bughead and with this world. In some ways I feel like this story wrote itself.
> 
> P.S. On my Tumblr as part of the image I made for this chapter I found a photo of someone who looks exactly like Maya. You can see it [HERE](https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/post/181147454107/curl-of-ash-epilogue-part-ii-jughead-is-looking).


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